Kielder walkers raises £2000 for hospice charity
A HOSPICE charity has benefited to the tune of £2000 thanks to a marathon forest walk by Scottish Woodlands staff.
Ten colleagues walked 26 miles around Kielder Water, in the heart of Kielder Forest, to raise money for HospiceCare North Northumberland. Verity Williams, Lucy Phillips, Sarah Radcliffe, Michael Hall, William Massey, Antoni Dunn, Jonathan Harker, Angus Rushin, Gareth Owen and Amy Herbst participated, and they were also joined by 4 dogs - Maybe, Holly, Obi and Spruce.
The charity delivers practical and emotional care and support to adults living with a terminal illness which requires palliative and end-of-life care, and also supports their families and carers and provides bereavement and dementia support services. There is no charge for the services, which will cost the hospice around £1.4 million in 2025.
Employees from Scottish Woodlands’ offices in Alnwick, Northumberland, and Wolsingham (County Durham), took up the challenge this summer - and raised £2,020.
Amy Herbst, Office Administrator, based in the Alnwick office, who organised the event, said: “Everyone rose to the challenge to support this brilliant charity, which has supported people close to a few of our staff members. We were delighted to raise more than £2000 towards their superb work.”
Natalie Wilson, Community & Events Fundraiser at HospiceCare North Northumberland, said: “We are immensely grateful to all Scottish woodland staff who undertook this challenge. It has raised vital funds to support our hospice, allowing our clinical team to continue round-the-clock care, our bereavement team to support families and our specialist dementia nurse to offer welcoming spaces for patients. This is more important now than ever before, as we receive around 5% funding from the NHS, the rest coming directly from fundraising, donations and community support. Thank you Scottish woodlands for your support!”
Kielder is the largest man-made woodland in England with three-quarters of its 250 square miles covered by forest. It has provided vital timber supplies for many decades, but is also home to around 50% of England's red squirrel population.
The walk took the team around nine hours to complete.
Pictured L-R are: Antoni Dunn, Regional Harvesting & Marketing Manager, Sarah Radcliffe, Forest Manager, Amy Herbst, Administrator and Verity Williams, Forest Manager.