3 weeks ago
Hollister Inc Charity Committee
£80.00
Congratulations! Fantastic effort for a fantastic cause!
Recent donations
3 weeks ago
Martyn & Peter
£50.00
+ £12.50 Gift Aid
It was a delight and privilege to have met you during and after completing this massive challenge. You’re a real inspiration. Well done you two!
4 weeks ago
Andy
£50.00
+ £12.50 Gift Aid
Great to help your epic achievement
1 month ago
Anonymous
£50.00
1 month ago
Virtual Running Events Ltd
£5.00
Well done both, you're inspirational!
1 month ago
Norah Quinn
£50.00
Huge Congratulations John and Wendy. What an amazing achievement and for such a worthy cause. Well done both of you 👏🏻👏🏻
2 months ago
Anonymous
£10.00
+ £2.50 Gift Aid
Something to help you reach your target
2 months ago
Mark (Cotswold comp/Stow)
£5.00
+ £1.25 Gift Aid
What a great achievement by lovely people.
2 months ago
Della Herd
£20.00
+ £5.00 Gift Aid
A fantastic achievement, well done x
2 months ago
Jeanette Wells
£100.00
+ £25.00 Gift Aid
From mum (Pam Clarke)
John and Wendy are walking from Land's End to John O'Groats
Event dates: 1st April 2024 – 30th June 2024
John & Wendy Cunningham are raising money for Willen Hospice and St Mark's Hospital Foundation
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Our story
Life sometimes throws you a massive curveball. Back in March 2020 before the first UK lockdown, John was diagnosed with stage 3-4 bowel cancer. Then ensued 5 weeks of chemoradiotherapy, followed by a 15 hour hour radical bowel surgery in 2021 and a month in ITU. Negotiating the complexity of treatment and another course of chemotherapy during the worldwide Covid pandemic added to the challenges we faced.
A long held retirement plan of ours was to walk from Lands End to John O' Groats. Not sure if this could now happen, we never gave up hope. We held this as a goal during the long gruelling rehabilitation which followed. Grateful to now be fit and well (albeit with John's altered lifestyle living with 2 stomas) the dream is scheduled to actually begin in spring 2024!! This is going to be a massive challenge and to say it's rather daunting is an understatement. To raise funds during the walk will spur us on.
John was a member of the Business Club at Willen Hospice before retiring and has chosen to support this amazing charity which relies totally on contributions to survive. We also want to wholeheartedly thank the team at St. Marks Hospital for his lifesaving surgery and therefore want to raise funds for the department.
We have now completed walking the Grand Union Canal from London to Birmingham and also the Isle of Wight coastline of 80 miles.
The date for this epic walk is set starting on 1st April (yes, April Fools Day!) and we will be staying in a camper van each night and hopefully people can help us get to and from it!
We hope large companies will support us by sponsoring the van (which we will advertise them on the sides of the van) but all of the other costs we are totally funding so all donations will go to the above two charities.
Please spread the message far and wide as we want to raise as much as we possibly can. We will update you on progress as we trek across our amazing country!
Thank you for checking out our page. Making a donation is fast, easy and secure thanks to Give as you Live Donate. They'll take your donation and pass it onto Willen Hospice and St Mark's Hospital Foundation.
Our updates
3 months ago
Well we actually did it!! On June 29th around 15.45 we walked in to John O Groats!!!! It's hard to fully describe the mix of emotions from elation that we had accomplished what we set out to do, plus a slight sadness that it was over. And also a bit of relief that we would be going home to meet family and friends and be back in our home with all the comforts that we are so grateful for. There's also a bit of us that can't actually believe we really did it!!!
It has been the most incredible experience battling through all kinds of weather and challenges we faced each day, to push ourselves beyond anything we have ever undertaken in the past. To be priviledged to walk through our land from bottom to top amongst the most stunning scenery and to meet the most incredibly kinbd and wonderful people along the way.
And now its home to write the book!!!
Thank you every single one of you for all the love, support, encouragement and most sacrificial donations which have got us to this phenominal total....still not too late to donate and we are secretly hoping we can double our initial goal.
But for now... thank you from the bottom of our hearts!
4 months ago
As we write, we are now in Keswick, Cumbria with Scotland not far away! Tomorrow we will have walked 700 miles. Incredible support along the way from family, friends and strangers. So grateful to you all and we could not have got this far without you. The Lake District is stunning and we have crossed over the point where we walked Coast to Coast in 2021, just before John's surgery.
Thank you to all those we have met along the way who have so generously donated.
The next section is 16 days walking before our next break, so please spread the word and give us a boost. Maybe we could get to £20,000!
5 months ago
Well, it is day 23 - a rest day! We are here in Minehead and now i county number 3! We have walked over 200 miles and Johns beard has entered week 3, much to Wendys dislike.
We think we have seen the worst of the weather now, having survived Storm Kathleen, another unnamed storm, ferrocious winds a dfn 60mph gusts on sheer cliffs!
We have seen miracles with last minute lifts when the ferry was cancelled, lifts from strangers when we hadn't any booked, donations from folk along the way as well as food and gifts. We have had amazing support with lifts, laundry and even sewing! So grateful to you all and rfeminds us there is so much goodness in the world.
Can we make £20000? Please spread the word as so much is needed and don't forgetto follow us on Instagram @bonkerswithbags
5 months ago
Ten days in the bag, 103 miles, brutal weather but warmed by the incredible kindness and generousity of so many beatiful people along the way. We appreciate you all and it is spurring us on. We managed to get on to BBC Radio Cornwall with David White on John's 70th birthday, whilst sheltering from the wind sat in a muddy stony puddle on the coast path! Don't forget to follow us on Instagram @bonkerswithbags
6 months ago
You can follow us on Instagram @bonkerswithbags.
Plus we will be on 3 Counties Radio on the Andy Collins Show at 7.30am on Easter Monday 1st April (also April Fools' Day!). Just after this interview we will begin our walk!
Our 2 charities
Willen Hospice
Charity number: 270194
St Mark's Hospital Foundation
Charity number: 1140930
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We've smashed our £10,000 target - help us raise more
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