A Walk In The Park

Fantastic Turnout for inaugural Walk in the Park for Breast Cancer Haven

Over 130 people took part in the first ‘Walk in the Park’ for Breast Cancer Haven on Sunday 16 October.  Organised by BBC South Today presenter Sally Taylor, the five mile sponsored walk was hosted by The Grange in Northington, near Alresford.  Walkers were thrilled to have the chance to walk through private parkland not normally accessible to the public, including the beautiful private garden of Lord and Lady Ashburton.

Sally Taylor said, “This was the first of what I hope will be an annual fundraising event for Breast Cancer Haven.  We had a fantastic response and I suspect the Walk in the Park will just get bigger and bigger every year.  The sun shone and we raised over £3500 – it was a glorious day!”

There were three departure times and each kicked off with a calming stretch warm up on the Oval Lawn in front of The Grange, led by Silvia from Winchester-based Dance company, Salsa Y Sol.  Then walkers were set off by Sally Taylor and walked through the magical estate passing many points of interest such as the Ancient Burial Ground, The Folly, the Moon Gate and the lake.  Four year old, xxx xxx raised over £300 in sponsorship and won a prize of a family day out at Paultons Park.  A raffle, tea and home-made cakes were available when the walkers returned.

The Walk in the Park was held to raise money for the Titchfield-based Breast Cancer Haven, a centre which provides specialist and individual treatment and support for anyone affected by Breast Cancer.  There are currently over 3000 people in Wessex being treated for Breast Cancer and the Breast Cancer Haven is just that – a haven – a non-medical environment run by professionally trained breast cancer nurses and specialist therapists who will tailor a series of treatments to complement someone’s conventional treatment programme.  It costs £1000 to treat each visitor.