The Memory Walk
On Saturday 17th September me and my two daughters joined over 6000 walkers of different ages to walk 2 laps round the beautiful Heaton Park in Manchester in support of Alzheimer’s Society and to remember the ones affected by dementia and raise funds to help to eradicate this disease.
Memory walks have been taking place for a couple of years now. There are over 30 walks all over England and Wales being organised throughout September and October encouraging people to join the fight against dementia.
I only found out about the Manchester walk a few days before the closing day and decided to register straight away. I thought it was a fantastic idea! Walking in a beautiful park and at the same time raising money for a great charity – Alzheimer’s Society. There were two routes to choose from 2km or 10 km. Obviously, I decided to go for 10 km as this will be a rough equivalent of a daily distance I will be doing on my Great Wall of China trek. However, I thought that would be too easy! I decided to make it even more of a challenge by taking my kids with me and to wear my walking boots for extra weight.
Heaton Park
The main fact about Heaton Park is that is one of the biggest parks in the North West covering 600 acres with some beautiful landmarks dating back to 18th century.
The day of the walk turned out beautiful. The sky was blue and the sun was shining which is the best way to do a walk. I got my Memory Walk Tshirt and we wrote the cards showing who we were walking for.
We warmed up with a bit of Zumba and got some encouraging words from two members of the cast of Coronation Street.
The atmosphere was amazing. It was humbling to read everybody’s cards on their backs to see who they are walking for which just proves how many people are affected by dementia.
We did the first loop of the walk and it felt OK and easy going,,, A bit of a gravel surface and a bit of an incline but steady going. I was relieved that my kids did not even moan once and I put it down to everybody’s enthusiasm and determination to complete the walk.
The Finish Line
We walked past the landmarks, past fellow walkers who walked alone or in groups, dressed up and most importantly past some amazing volunteers cheering us all up along the way. When we finished the second lap and officially walked 10 km we were honestly ready for another lap. However, we decided to cross the finish line and claim our well deserved medal!
Overall, we had a great day. The turn out was astounding and I am really pleased I did this walk with my kids who by doing it could remember their granddad and also see how many people are actually affected by dementia and Alzheimer’s disease .
We did it! A medal, a sense of achievement and a fantastic morning in Manchester’s finest park- Heaton Park.
If you want to support the Alzheimer’s Society, please follow this link to my JustGiving page and you can make your donation there. Thank you.