England-Belgium walk raises funds for local projects

Three members of the Brits-Hartbeespoort Rotary Club recently joined members of the Rotary Club in Colchester, England for a six day walk from Colchester to Brussels in Belgium to raise funds for the local club’s projects. The funds raised were more than £10 000 and R13 000 and is being used for the Brits-Hartbeespoort Rotary Club’s ‘Childhood Development’ projects.
Mr. Glen Smit, one of the local Rotary members who joined in the walk, told Kormorant that the idea for the project started last year when John and Lynne Lloyd from the Colchester club visited locally to witness the handover of wheelchairs to children from the Opkyk Pathways centre in De Kroon outside Brits. The funds for this was raised through a Rotary cycling trip through France two years ago.
“Lynne related afterwards that she felt compelled to do something more for the handicapped and asked John to undertake another fundraiser. Like most good husbands John complied and the idea of a charity walk was born,” Smit said.
John put his idea to the board of the Rotary Club in Colchester on their return and they gave him the go ahead. Smit said that a lot of planning and sponsorship appeals were done and the Colchester Club then extended an invitation to local members to join them. Smit, along with Frank and Morgana Seewald flew to England at their own cost to join the walk of 160km over the six days.
The 22 walkers started their walk in front of the Colchester Town Hall where the mayor wished them well. They then proceeded to Manningtree on the coast from where they were taken by minibus to the underground ferry to Calais in France, then to Brugges in Belgium where they overnighted. The Belgium leg then commenced at the coastal town of Ostend to finish at Brussels via Brugge and Ghent.
“It was a great experience. We overnighted in good first class hotels, the daily procedure being that the support bus would take our luggage and provide lunches and medical support along the way. The doctor in the support team had a busy time in the latter part of the walk attending to muscle cramps and blisters. The majority of the walkers did the whole route but an amazing census at the end of the walk showed the average age of the group was 66 years old. The pace was brisk, in fact, if I stopped to take a picture I had to jog to catch up. Except for one day the weather was fine and we enjoyed great fellowship,” Smit said.
He said that in appreciation for John and Lynne’s efforts he had the honour of awarding them a Sapphire Paul Harris award from the local Rotary club. The Sapphire award is a higher award than the Paul Harris Fellowship award which John and Lynne had received previously. The Fellowship award is an award of high esteem given to members who excel in their endeavours and is named after the founder of the world wide organisation.
Smit said that the walk managed to raise £10 000 and R13 000 locally and through the system of matching grants by the Rotary International Foundation it may total approximately
$32 000.
The Brits-Hartbeespoort Rotary Club have dedicated the majority of the money to their ‘Childhood Development’ projects and material evidence to this is the nearly completed ablution block at the Opkyk Pathways School for the Handicapped in De Kroon.

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23 July 2009