RAOC Gazette - page 254
Image details
| Corps | RAOC |
|---|---|
| Material type | Journals |
| Book page | |
| Chapter head | |
| Chapter key | |
| Chapter number | |
| Full title | RAOC Gazette |
| Page number | |
| Publication date | 1983 |
| Real page | |
| Colour | Yes |
| Grey | No |
| Early date | 1983 |
| Late date | 1983 |
| Transcription |
LONDON TO LIVERPOOL FOR THE NSPCC BY WOl (SSM) F. MORTON THE June edition of THE GAZETTE carried an article about the intended walk of W02 John Brooks BEM and myself from London to Liverpool, in an attempt to raise much needed funds for the NSPCC. I am pleased to report that the walk was completed successfully as planned without too much hard- ship to the participants. As promised, I now give a fuller account of our aims and achievements. The idea of the walk developed from a conversation between John and I during the annual NSPCC Aintree walks held in May 1982. We had both been taking part in this event for a number of years but, knowing that 1983 was to be the Centenary of the founding of the Liverpool Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (the first in this country), we decided that we would like to do something ' special.' We eventually agreed that, rather than walk round Aintree Racecourse for twenty four hours, we would walk to it from London, and Buckingham Palace was chosen as a suitable start point. The whole object of the walk was to raise funds for the NSPCC, so our route was planned to take in as many cities and large towns along the way in order that we could collect money. This meant that the actual distance between London and Liverpool of approximately two hundred miles was extended to something more than three hundred miles. Our intention, on this occasion, was not to break any long distance walking records, as John had done in the past, but to keep to about fifty miles per day, thus affording us some time to concentrate on fund raising. The task of organising the venture fell upon myself, with John Brooks organising most of the admin support and personal sponsorship. My first job was to write to The Queen, as Patron of the NSPCC, to tell her about our venture and to ask if she would kindly send me a message of greeting to the Liver- pool Society on their Centenary. The Queen replied by convey- ing her ' best wishes for the success of their celebrations and activities and for a happy and successful Centenary Year.' Encouraged by The Queen's response, I then wrote to every Lord Mayor/Mayor and BBC local radio station along our route. The response was quite staggering, because we received numerous invitations to meet local Signatories and to be inter- viewed on radio. In the main, most councils seemed to bend over backwards to accommodate us and the situation developed where some Mayors agreed to ' turn o u t ' at some ungodly hours. Unwittingly, but fortunately for us, we had chosen a- time when we suspect that newly elected Mayors were hoping to create an impression on their electorate! Of the many councils that I wrote to, only one refused us permission to collect in their area, and a further two did not reply at all. Before I give a day to day account of the walk itself, mention must be made of our excellent admin support crew, which is essential in any venture of this kind. They were W02 Pat Beales. W02 Pete McCoy BEM ACC, Private Lorraine Connelly WRAC and Private Ray Powell, all of CAD Kineton and, for the first two days, Christine, the fourteen year old daughter of John Brooks. Their job, in addition to sup- porting the walkers, was to go ahead to pre-selected points to hold street collections and to arrange overnight accommodation where necessary. Without their constant supply of hot and cold drinks, encouragement and good humour, it would have been impossible for us to complete the walk. Day One. On a very wet and miserable morning of Saturday 28th May, the whole party, having assembled in and around the Kineton area, set off by car, in the direction of Buckingham Palace. On reaching London, the weather had not improved and didn't .look like doing so. Nevertheless, at 10 am. we set off from Buckingham Palace in the direction of Slough and I thought that things couldn't get any worse. How wrong I was! Due to an ' administrative error' our back-up crew, which was supposed to meet us in the Hammersmith area, failed to make the rendezvous. The consequence was that some Photo Sergeant K. Webster. A Sunday evening stioll through the streets of Banbury. fifteen miles and three hours later, when they did catch up with us, two rather bedraggled and thirsty walkers had a few irate words to say. Fortunately, from then on, this type of incident was not to be repeated and the service provided was superb. Our only appointment of that day was a meeting with the Mayor and local Press of Slough, some twenty five miles from our start point. The reception that followed our arrival was excellent and from it developed the classic ' doggy bag' situation. Having fed and watered us quite regally, the Lady Mayoress discovered that she had somewhat over-catered and approached Pat Beales with the request that we reduce her mound of sandwiches and sausage rolls. Plastic bags were produced and, fully nourished and clutching the food, we continued our journey which, that day, was scheduled to take us to a point just South of Oxford, via Maidenhead and Henley- on-Thames. This part of the walk, some thirty miles, passed without incident but two wet and weary walkers were happy to lay down under canvas at a camp site, pre-selected by Pete Mc- Coy, who also had a hot meal waiting for us. Weary we may have been but we were also happy in the knowledge that our first goal of approximately sixty miles on the first day had been reached. It was now time to relax and relate some of the humorous stories of that day, two of which concerned Pat Beales who had found unique, but possibly illegal, methods of collecting donations to charity. On one occasion he spotted a Labour Party candidate electioneering from the back of an open truck. He immediately mounted the truck and waved his collecting box in front of the candidate, who could hardly refuse to contribute in front of potential voters! Day Two. Fully refreshed and after a hearty breakfast, the walk was continued on a day when the weather was to be much kinder to us. Our first appointment of that day was with BBC Radio Oxford, at 9 am, so an early start had to be made in order to cover the six miles from our camp site. We were met at the BBC Radio Oxford studios by a very ' bouncy" presenter by the name of Claire Riley who gave us a ten minute live interview and made a great fuss of us and the message we were carrying from |
| Book number | R0406 |