Walkers began to put their best foot forward on 11 January and were each challenged with accumulating a million steps in total by 20 April, by taking 10,000 steps a day,
The funds raised will enable the Hospice to keep providing outstanding levels care and support to patients living with life-limiting condition and those who need end of life care – and their loved ones, across its many vital services.
The beauty of Step a Million is that it could be flexed around the restrictions of the third lockdown, whilst simultaneously providing the motivation for participants to keep active and get out and about. When the initiative started in January, restrictions meant that participants could only walk in their local area, but by April, participants were able to venture slightly further afield.
Some remarkable individuals took part, including 86-year-old George Ginn, from Soham, who walked the same route every day wearing a high-vis jacket explaining the challenge. He raised over £1,000 and created a real buzz around the town with other walkers and runners along the route stopping to give him donations in support of his efforts.
Family bubbles like the Negus family and Haslett family (both from Cambridge) got involved and the Kirk family didn’t let distance stop them: members of the family took part in their respective hometowns across England, with one even taking part in Spain!
Teams from companies and organisations like Riverlite Ltd (St Neots, who provide the Hospice’s IT and technical support) and the ‘PLD Perambulators’ strode out together in spirit and mind, even though they were unable to physically gather together.
The largest team was 22 colleagues from Meadow Lane Children’s Nursery in St Ives, who raised over £2,000 and counted their steps during their working day, whilst playing with the children.
In addition, a number of teams from Arthur Rank Hospice Charity took part, including colleagues who provide care at the Inpatient Unit in Cambridge, staff from the Wisbech-based Hospice at Home team, a nurse specialist from the Hospice’s Great Shelford-based Lymphoedema clinic and five of the Fundraising Team.
Emma Bray, Corporate Fundraiser, comments: “We were absolutely thrilled to have such a fantastic number of participants take part in Step a Million in its first year and we loved hearing stories about how it was going for each of them. Walking ten thousand steps a day seems to have been very positive experience for our participants and I’m still astounded that they have raised £27,000, completely smashing our initial £10,000 target. I would like to say a huge thank you to each and every person who took part, and also those who gave donations and morale support. It has been a true #TeamArthur effort!”
Following the success of this year’s challenge, the initiative will take place again in 2022. Registrations will open towards the end of 2021. If you would like to find out more about the challenge before then (or if you are a part of an organisation or business who would like to offer your support to Arthur Rank Hospice Charity) you can discover more at arhc.org.uk/corporate or contact Emma Bray on emma.bray@arhc.org.uk or her direct number: 01223 675882.