Shropshire Star

Bridgnorth walk event raises thousands for charity

Thousands of pounds will have been raised for charity as part of this year's Bridgnorth Up the Steps Walk.

Published
Participants of the Steps Walk from Bridgnorth Town Hall

About 50 people got involved in the event, which sees walkers climbing the oldest parts of Bridgnorth along more than 800 steps throughout the town.

The yearly event, organised by the town’s Rotary Club, took about two hours to complete, although first finisher Jack Coleman completed the course in about an hour.

The course is up the steps and down the streets between Low Town and High Town.

Elwyn Jones, secretary of the Rotary Club of Bridgnorth, said it had been a very successful event.

"We'll expect to raise several thousand pounds," he said. "We've already got about £500 in entry fees. It was a very successful event in the end, and everybody had a good walk.

"Generally we raise £2,000 to £3,000, and I expect we'll be in that area again.

"It's a different sort of event for us in as much as it's the only event really where people are raising money for their own charities or good cause. Generally for an event, we identify a charity, and the money goes to that charity.

"People are raising money for a broad range of charities and clubs or whatever they would like."

Excellent

Mr Jones said the event was suitable for people with different levels of mobility, The oldest person who tackled the walk was 79. The youngest was about six or seven.

"A wide range of people can do it, although some people find walking up steps very difficult.

"It's an annual event and we do need more walkers, there's no two ways about it. But it's a very narrow course. We couldn't take as many as 100. We couldn't do more than that without several different starting point.

"We would like to get more teams of people involved. We have a couple of teams, but would like to get more of the schools involved. We had a team from the guides, but other organisations from young people would be excellent."

Any groups interested in getting involved can contact Mr Jones via email at fej1284@btinternet.com

This was the seventh time the event had been held.

Changes in the last few years have included allowing people to choose their own charitable course and a change of route which boosted the number of steps from 793 to 800.