Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Sponsored Walk in Aid of Headway
As we all shiver this weekend, I'm looking forward to taking part in a sponsored "walk" which members of my barristers' chambers will be doing on 6th April in aid of Headway, which is a charity whose mission is "To promote understanding of all aspects of brain injury and to provide information, support and services to people with a brain injury, their families and carers."
You can read about them at https://www.headway.org.uk/home.aspx
The walk is, in fact, a 45 mile slog to be done in the course of one day in the Peak District. The easy part includes sections of the Pennine Way. It is known as the "Four Inns Walk" because it links four inns of which three, I believe, are still in business. More info about the delights we're in for is available on http://www.fourinnswalk.org/
The reason why we're doing this is that one of our members, Michael Waterworth, suffered a very serious head injury last year. He was in a coma for two weeks and is now undergoing a lengthy spell of rehabilitation. So we're very keen to raise as much as we can for this very worthwhile organisation.
I hope that HoL members will want to learn more about Headway and possibly support their work. One way in which they can do so is via my Chambers' "Just Giving" page which can be reached on http://www.justgiving.com/tenoldsquare
Wish us luck.
David Schmitz
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by David Schmitz on
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Many thanks to the HoL members who have contributed. It's really spurring us on.
Best,
David
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Once again, many thanks to the HoL members who have contributed to Headway. You'll be pleased, I hope, to know that my work colleagues have raised almost £9,000 so far.
On the walk itself, which took place last Saturday, some of us actually completed the full 42 miles over the 3 peaks, one of the participants coming in at 3:15 am. On the way there were steep ascents and descents, lots of accumulated snow, a bit of black ice, streams of melting snow to ford, and miles of mud. The weather, however, was marvellous.
Because it was important to get as far as possible during daylight hours, there was hardly any stopping. This left me in a bit of a predicament. My recent training had caused me to lose so much weight, that I needed to carve an extra notch in my belt in order to stop my trousers from slipping. The first chance I got for that was during a loo stop after 9 miles en route.
In the end, I didn't do the full distance, though I did manage 17 miles and two of the peaks. Unfortunately, just as I was coming up to a check point, I stumbled next to a gulley, and my balletic efforts there to stop myself from falling (fortunately successful) were witnessed by the man in charge, who told me that I would not be going any further. After 17 miles, I wasn't inclined to argue, especially as he was 6'6" and a mug of tea was being proffered.
Not having done anything like this for quite some time, I found it quite exhilarating to push myself to the limit.
The event has left me with an enormous respect for the Scouts, whose organisation was impeccable. Within an hour, starting at 5:00 am, they got perhaps 300 of us fed, they gave us a kit inspection (absolutely necessary in order to stop people from freezing to death if the weather turns nasty) and they got us out the door. All along there were check points to keep track of us and offer refreshments and at the end full meals and first aid were available. Mountain rescue was always on hand.
Anyone who might consider volunteering locally to open experiences like this to young people in our area might like to check an earlier posting that I did on volunteering for uniformed groups. See http://www.harringayonline.com/forum/topics/you-matter-event-adult-...
Perhaps next year, I'll have a bash at finishing, though I hope that this year I managed enough distance and pain to give my sponsors their monies worth!
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