A group of walkers from the events industry are gearing up to take part in the fourth Howard’s Way Walk in memory of colleague and friend, Howard Kerr.
The 85-mile challenge – which starts in Ilkley in the Yorkshire Dales and finishes at Lake Windermere in the Lake District – will raise money for the Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund this September. The walk was inspired by freelance logistics manager Howard Kerr, who lost his life in 2008 to pancreatic cancer.
Kerr’s brother-in-law Nick Grecian, managing director of events crewing firm Gallowglass, has planned the three-day route. Among this year’s participants are: event and PR entrepreneur, Simon Burton; Lee Farrant, partner, RPM; Sam Wilson, managing director, Eco Events; and Laura Moody, managing director of Blondefish.
Moody said: “I loved the walk so much last year, I'm back again. When I say I loved it, I must add that walking 100 miles was the hardest thing I had ever done - harder than the 3 Peaks Challenge, giving birth to two children and breaking my collar bone all at once!”
Over the last three years the Howard’s Way Walk and related fundraising activities have raised in excess of £180,000, which has funded a PHD Studentship Award for a researcher at Barts Hospital’s Institute of Cancer.
Grecian said: “This is not simply a charity fund-raising initiative. Following Howard’s original diagnosis, we learned that 75 per cent of pancreatic cancer sufferers die within six months of diagnosis and only three percent survive more than five years. Research into pancreatic cancer is woefully underfunded, and the events industry has now lost several valued friends and colleagues to this insidious killer.
“Once again Land Rover are generously providing support vehicles for the walk, and we’re really hoping for additional sponsorship. We’ve put together a number of £300 packages, to cover necessities ranging from medical support to cake, via transport and physiotherapy.”
Full details about the Howard’s Way Walk can be found on www.howardswaywalk.co.uk
Pictured left to right: Alan Ellis, managing director of The Rocket Science Group; Laura Moody, managing director of Blondefish; John Maggs, friend of Howard’s Way Walk and Lee Farrant, partner at RPM.