Walk of Life For Rainbows 8th June 2003
I completed the Walk of Life event on 8th June 2003 despite the rain and hailstorms. About 2,000 turned up to walk the 15-mile course. The money pledged will go towards the care of 240 seriously-ill children who use the Loughborough hospice which was opened in 1994 by the Prince of Wales and is funded mostly by charitable donations.
Over the six years it has been running, The Walk of
Life has raised £650,000 for the hospice, which has an annual running cost of
£2 million a year. The
Leicester Mercury is continuing a campaign for the Government to provide better
funding for Rainbows. The charity receives just six per cent of its annual
running costs, compared with grants of 50 per cent for adult hospices.
More than 10,000 people have signed letters backing our Give Rainbows A Fair
Deal drive, urging an end to the discrepancy. The hospice takes children from
Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire and
South Yorkshire.
Now for the important pictures!