Midnight Walk rises £53k as hundreds turn out for St Helena Hospice

Caring – Sami Vella and Jordan Thomas walked for Holly O’Brien, who was cared for by St Helena Hospice (Image: Steve Brading) The annual Midnight Walk is a major fundraiser for St Helena Hospice, and on Friday night hundreds of participants got together to complete the event which was kicked off by Olympic medallist Charlie Dobson outside Fenwick’s in Colchester High Street.

Dress-up – Denise, Debbie and Charlotte King with Victoria Parmentor (Image: Steve Brading) Walkers had the choice of a 4.5-mile or nine-mile route which took them to the JobServe Community Stadium on the outskirts of the city by the early hours of Saturday morning.

Fluorescent – glowsticks meant the 700 walkers could find their way to the stadium (Image: Steve Brading) Volunteer marshals guided the way with giant glow sticks as participants walked with family, friends or colleagues; some walked for fun while others walked to remember loved ones who had been cared for by St Helena Hospice.

Daring –Chelsea Cardy walked over Lego and glass before walking miles in memory of her uncle Derek (Image: Steve Brading) The charity opened the hospice in 1985 after six years of fundraising, and provides specialist end-of-life care to people in north Essex who face incurable illness.

Keen – Mersea Island parkrunners enjoy the atmosphere (Image: Steve Brading) Charlotte Bragg, who was one of the hundreds to complete the walk, said: “The hospice cared for both my mum and dad and supported our family as well, so they are just incredible people and the hospice is an incredible place; we can’t thank them enough.”

Mascot – Saunders the elephant led the start in an open-topped Porsche (Image: Steve Brading) Marcus Poston, partnerships fundraising manager at St Helena Hospice, thanked participants and said preparations are already underway for the next year’s event, which will be part of the charity’s 40th birthday celebrations.

Together – Olivia Ratcliffe, Ollie Slater and Linda Howell with Steve the teddy, walking in memory of their loved one Steve (Image: Steve Brading) He said: “It was great to see so many people having fun with big smiles on their faces, enjoying the entertainment and fantastic performances from Harwich Sings and Alice Pescott-Frost, before walking for miles to raise much needed funds to help the people in our community in need of support from St Helena.

Volunteers – sisters Jenni Homewood and Wendy Rowley were event marshals (Image: Steve Brading) “We hope to see even more people at the Midnight Walk next year to celebrate the 40th anniversary of St Helena Hospice, where the theme will be the 1980s to take us back to the time when local hospice care started.”

Photos courtesy of Steve Brading