We’re Walking 4 Joseph. Are you?

We played Leeds yesterday, and somehow Wigan Athletic won a football match. Against Leeds. At Elland Road. Again!

You may remember last time we played there. It was a memorable day for all kinds of reasons but sixty or so people who took time off work and walked fifty eight excruciating miles over three days, have another reason to remember it.

The good news is that after Leeds last year and Fleetwood the year before, we are now going for the hat trick. Both of these walks raised around £36,000, which is a phenomenal sum of money to help children with a rare life limiting, medical condition called Non-Ketotic Hyperglycinemia.

We’d like to continue that fund raising again this year by walking to Barnsley over Easter to help those children, including our very own special mascot, Joseph Kendrick, who is now the UK’s oldest living survivor with the condition.

This is an OPEN INVITE to anyone, whether you are a Wigan Athletic fan or otherwise, to come and join us on the walk and raise money to support the cause.

All you have to do is give up your time, a bit of money and get used to putting one foot in front of the other continually for eight hours a day. Easy eh?

You want more details? OK, then, this is what we have so far…

We will leave Wigan on Saturday morning (Easter Saturday, 11^th April) and head along the Leeds and Liverpool canal towards Yorkshire. We will walk around 25 miles on the first day with breaks every couple of hours.

We will stay over in a hotel on the east side of Manchester on Saturday night before getting up on Sunday and going over the Woodhead Pass via an unused railway line, so mostly flat thankfully!!

On arrival on the other side, 22 miles later, we will get ferried to hotels on the outskirts of Barnsley for a Sunday night stay and then taken back to the drop off point on Monday morning.

From there, we will walk the remaining 9.5 miles and then arrive at Oakwell to watch Wigan Athletic take on Barnsley. Transport back to Wigan will be taken care of.

What do you need?

Some decent trainers or boots for a start. You will need to fund your overnight stays including food and drink and you will need to practice walking distances of 15-20 miles per day in advance of the weekend. You will also need to raise as much money as possible from friends, family and colleagues.

In return, you will get a wonderful, warm experience, make new friends and get yourself fit (let’s not mention the pub stops!) If previous years are anything to go by, you may be walking alongside such luminaries as Emmerson Boyce, David Clarke, ex-GB international footballer, Jonathan Jackson and Darren Royle. Even Nick Powell joined us for a while last year in his flip flops.

Oh and Paul Kendrick, Joe’s dad, giving you the opportunity to pester him in real life instead of on social media. Just don’t follow him on the route, as he has a habit of going the wrong way and adding miles to the journey.

So, yes there may be some pain involved but that aside, I can safely say on behalf of all those involved that it is a life affirming experience with great camaraderie and spirit throughout. Plus you might even get on telly!

If you can’t commit to all three days, you are also welcome to join us for two days, or even one. All participation is welcome!

With that irresistible sales pitch over, you probably want to know how to get involved? Well, for now, you just need to email us at walk4joseph@gmail.com to express an interest and we’ll be in touch with more details shortly.

With massive thanks for your support for everything everyone does for the charity and your continued generous donations

Cheers

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