In July of this year 60 people from all over the world are coming together to walk the 84 mile length of the Hadrian’s Wall Footpath in aid of the Joseph Salmon Trust.

Due to the exceptionally kind generosity of Buff and Acorn Printing we are very excited to be able to offer two pieces of Hadrian’s Walk Merchandise for sale – as exhibited by our two glamorous models below:

The T-shirt costs £6 (including P&P) and is available in S, M, L, XL, and XXL. Buy one HERE.

The Buff perhaps warrants a little more explanation. If there is one disadvantage to a Buff it’s that they are so hard to describe. The easiest route would probably to call them a bandanna – that’s certainly what I use mine for. But the truth is they are a lot more versatile than that.

Here then are the many faces of a Buff:

Buff’s are £13 each (including P&P) and are one size fits all. Buy one HERE.

It is important to point out that 100% of the £13 charged for the Buff will go to the Joseph Salmon Trust (minus postage costs) as will all but 80p of the T-shirts. Again, we’d like to thank Buff and Acorn Printing for their generosity.

So basically, if you were planning on making a donation to the Walk you might as well make it £13 or £6 and get a Buff or a t-shirt out of the deal (or even donate £19 and get both!).

As you will see if you click on the purchase links above we’re using a justgiving page to handle payments. After you’ve paid then email archie@hadrianswalk.org and tell him your name and address. Then sit back and wait for your Buff to arrive through the post. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

Thanks for your support.

Back in 2007 a group of nine friends and I walked the 74 mile length of the Dales Way footpath in Aid of The Joseph Salmon Trust. There wasn’t one among us who was a seasoned walker, in fact the furthest some of us had ever walked was between the pub and the chip shop.

But as friends of Neil and Rachael (the parents of Joseph Salmon and founders of the Trust) we all wanted to show our dedication and support towards what they were doing. And even if we had not had that personal connection, we all believed passionately in the Trust’s work, and wanted to do our upmost to help those who have lost a child.

On the 23rd of July 2007 we set off from Ilkley for our epic journey, arriving tired and we were limping at Bowness-on-Windermere six days later. We’d had a great time and gained a huge sense of achievement. We’d also raised over six thousand pounds for the trust, a sum that we were extremely proud of.

You can read an account of the walk here, as well as watch some video footage we filmed along the way.

So what next?

In July 2010 we are going on another walk. This time along the 84 mile long Hadrian’s Wall Footpath, travelling nearly coast to coast across the width of England.

But it’s not just the mileage that has increased. This year we’ll be walking with a lot more people.

During the fundraising for our Dales walk we got a great deal of support from the readers of my blog (allthatcomeswithit.com). In fact donations from the blog accounted for over a thousand pounds of our total raised. So when I started thinking about organising another walk I asked if any one my readers fancied coming along.

The response was incredible.

As it stands there will be over sixty people joining me on Hadrian’s Wall this July. People are coming from all over the world to walk the path and show their support for the trust. We’ve got people from England, Scotland, Ireland, America and Holland. We’ve got paramedics, nurses, policemen, teachers, bankers, writers, editors, and stay-at-home parents. We’ve even got a university professor and an American superior court judge.

Due to the sheer numbers of participants we’ll be tackling the walk in three different groups. I will lead a group of thirty five from East to West across the country, whilst my brother Sam will simultaneously take a group of around twenty from West to East. Meanwhile a group of ten cyclists lead by Gary, one of the friends I’ve made through the blog, will cycle along the adjacent Hadrian’s Wall bike path.

All three groups (named Team Ocelot, Bandicoot, and Gnu for no other reason than it tickles us) will all meet up in the middle of the country on the third night and compare blisters.

Beds have been booked, deposits have been paid, and walking boots have been bought. And now it’s time to start thinking about raising some money.

This is a big venture, and so we’ve decided to aim for a big fundraising target – £20,000. It’s ambitious, but achievable. And a large amount of cash such as that would make a huge difference to a small charity such as The Joseph Salmon Trust.

As you know, the Trust supports parents who have lost a child by providing financial assistance to those who need it most. This may be to help with funeral costs or to allow the self employed a break from work while they come to terms with their loss.

Grieving families have enough to deal with without worries about where they will find the money to say goodbye to their child or pay the next electricity bill. Nothing we can do can make their situation better, but we can do something to stop it getting worse.

Every penny donated to the Trust by members of the public goes directly to the people they help. All the charities trustee’s and workers are voluntary and unpaid, and all the administrative costs are met by corporate sponsorship.

If you would like to sponsor our walk of Hadrian’s Wall you can do so by visiting our Justgiving page

http://www.justgiving.com/hadrianswalkers

Anything you are able to give will go towards making a huge difference to those going through the worst tragedy imaginable.

You can follow the progress of the organisation of our walk and get to know more about the walkers on our dedicated blog: http://hadrianswalk.org

Thanks for your support

Dan Hughes describes himself as a part time stay-at-home dad and part time community mental health nurse. He lives with his wife and two children and keeps chickens, grows veg, and takes the occasional long walk. He has recently become a Trustee of the Joseph Salmon Trust.

Back in 2007 a group of nine friends and I walked the 74 mile length of the Dales Way footpath in Aid of The Joseph Salmon Trust. There wasn’t one among us who was a seasoned walker, in fact the furthest some of us had ever walked was between the pub and the chip shop.

But as friends of Neil and Rachael (the parents of Joseph Salmon and founders of the Trust) we all wanted to show our dedication and support towards what they were doing. And even if we had not had that personal connection, we all believed passionately in the Trust’s work, and wanted to do our upmost to help those who have lost a child.

On the 23rd of July 2007 we set off from Ilkley for our epic journey, arriving tired and we were limping at Bowness-on-Windermere six days later. We’d had a great time and gained a huge sense of achievement. We’d also raised over six thousand pounds for the trust, a sum that we were extremely proud of.

You can read an account of the walk here, as well as watch some video footage we filmed along the way.

So what next?

In July 2010 we are going on another walk. This time along the 84 mile long Hadrian’s Wall Footpath, travelling nearly coast to coast across the width of England.

But it’s not just the mileage that has increased. This year we’ll be walking with a lot more people.

During the fundraising for our Dales walk we got a great deal of support from the readers of my blog (allthatcomeswithit.com). In fact donations from the blog accounted for over a thousand pounds of our total raised. So when I started thinking about organising another walk I asked if any one my readers fancied coming along.

The response was incredible.

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