Step out and join us again

READERS who missed out on the opportunity to accompany the Western Morning News on its fundraising walk campaign around the region’s coast last year have one final chance to join the fun.
The Great South West Walk will return for one day in May, bringing together familiar faces and friends for a grand reunion.
The fundraiser will also be a chance for those who were unable to join in last year to be a part of the special event.
An incredible £175,000 was raised by walkers who covered sections of the 630-mile South West Coast Path with the news team in August last year to take in the stunning views, the region’s coastal heritage and brave the changeable weather throughout the month.
There were also several fundraising dinner events with auctions, as well as a handful of charity golf days. Regional sponsors contributed a massive amount to the grand total, some sponsoring as much as £2,500 a section.
The Great South West Walk campaign recently won a Media Innovation Award for the best community website.
Spearheading the campaign, Jo Owen, one of the two readers who completed the entire route last August, is generating support for May’s walk in her South Devon community. The Modbury resident, who has approached Marmite for sponsorship, thanks to her daily energy-inducing sandwich, said: “I think it will be terrific fun. I’ll be bringing lots of friends with me this time.”
She said life has been quite different since finishing the mammoth walk on August 31 last year. “It was a relief to finish, but I also missed it,” she said.
“Before last August, I didn’t really like walking. It was something I had to do every day for the dogs. But now I love it and I keep finding friends asking me to join them on walks all over the place – it’s quite funny really.”

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