Start the press!!

As we near 50 days to the walk the blog site hits are neck a neck with the sponsorship total of nearly £2,900. But the really big news of the day is that we've hit the press!! The following article has just been posted by the Croydon Guardian (see it on line here).

Walkers prepare to conquer wall

By Hannah Williamson »

Ten novice trekkers are to walk the length of Hadrian's Wall to raise money for an eye charity.

Updated from original post now presenting additional paparazzi shots including the team mascot Rafa

The group have their walking shoes on ready for their challenge. The group of middle aged men, who average 45-years-old and describe themselves as '20 tired feet' on their Facebook fundraising page, will walk 84 miles over 6 days, to raise money for the charity Fight for Sight in honour of Shirley resident Joe Pepper.

Joe, 20, suffers from a rare inherited eye disorder called Choroideremia, which causes progressive sight loss, usually in teenage boys. His father Kevin and nine friends decided to complete the trek to raise money for the charity, which is supporting clinical trials trying to stop the degeneration and retain the sight of people suffering from the condition.

Mr Pepper said his son, who studies History and Politics at Southampton University, recently found out he is eligible to participate in a clinical trial. He said: "It's great because the money we are raising, we can now see firsthand what it is going towards. A lot of money goes into a kitty for research, but you can't see anything tangible coming out of it immediately. The money we raise will not only help Joe, but other people suffering from similar conditions. Hopefully a treatment will be found that will improve the eye sight and stopping the degeneration."

Phil Stead also from Shirley, is participating in the trek. The 50-year-old who jokingly describes his longest walk as "to Greggs and back," said the group were getting in lots of practice before the walk in April. "We are doing a few practice walks, the first was an eight mile walk and we did a 13 mile walk a couple of week ago. It is not something we have done before so it will be challenging."
The group hope to raise £5,000 and are nearly half way to their target. To follow their progress visit trekforjoe.blogspot.com and to sponsor the group visit justgiving.com/teams/trekforjoe