Time to Walk and Talk

Welcome to the third annual ‘Howard’s Way walk’… The South Downs Way.
For those who have been involved with us before you will know the history behind our
walking, but for the uninitiated our event was inspired by the resilient Howard Kerr in
2007 who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and decided, as those who knew him
knew he would, to fight the disease by enjoying what time he had left surrounded by
his family and friends whilst taking a 90 mile stroll along the Ridgway.

Now this may seem a strange thing to do for a normal man but Howard was no ordinary man. He was, for want of a better term, a trooper who never complained and always fought for others. His legacy to us was inspiration and drive to help to find a cure for the most underfunded cancer whilst making new friends and walking through parts of the country that very few of us would have experienced. Along the way we would get cold, wet, aquire many aches and pains but always come out of it as truly better people.

When the news of Howard's illness was announced the support for the cause from within the events industry snowballed and help was forthcoming from all quarters. This was welcomed - but not a surprise as the events industry is and always has been a ‘family’ who are always there to help those in need when illness or accidents happens.

In 2008 a dozen core walkers and numerous others, who joined us when they
had the time, completed the Ridgway walk along with Howard, managing to
raise £85,000 for the Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund.

As a direct consequence, the first Howard Kerr PHD Studentship Award has now
been made to a student studying at the Institute of Cancer at Barts.

In 2009, we continued Howards legacy with a greater number of walkers by
tackling the famous Hadrian’s Wall, from Wall’s End in Newcastle to Bowness-on-Solway – over 3 days and covering some 85 miles.

Our aim is to raise as much as we can in both awareness and of course funds with our base target being £60,000.

We know we have the continuing support from the events industry and from friends and family of Howard, but as with all these important causes we could do with more. Here's the itinerary we completed day by day, and thanks to all of you who joined us for some of the walk.

You can still donate money to your favorite walker or increase awareness by chatting to people about this annual event. Monies can be pledged via our Justgiving page