bY Leicester Mercury | Posted April 15, 2013
Leicester’s biggest girls’ night out saw more than 1,000 women pounding through the city streets in aid of LOROS hospice.
The annual Twilight Walk wound its way from the King Power Stadium, past Highcross shopping centre, Phoenix Square and Victoria Park, until it came full circle – six miles later – back at the home of Leicester City Football Club.
The theme of this year’s fundraising walk was St Trinian’s, which meant knee-high socks, hockey sticks, thick-rimmed glasses and boaters accompanied by the traditional pink tutus and t-shirts. Kathy Lake, 48, and Lynda Seal, 63, both from Loughborough, were among those who took part in the walk, starting from the stadium at sundown on Saturday.
Like the majority of fundraisers, they had attached meaningful notes to helium-filled pink balloons, which they released before the walk. Kathy and Lynda’s notes were in memory of friend Beryl Rick, who died of cancer aged 60.
Kathy said: “We wanted to do something nice for Beryl, and I know there are a lot of sad stories here, but it’s also a celebration and it can be fun.
“I’ve written ‘Hello Beryl’ on my balloon note – I think it’s one of the highlights of the walk when everyone lets their balloons go.”
Lynda said: “We’ve wrapped up warm this year. It’s our second year and I love the St Trinian’s theme.
“We’ve got our hockey sticks and flasks and hopefully it shouldn’t take us too long to get round.”
The women collected £220 in sponsorship for the event.
Fellow findraiser Tammy Holmes, 29, from Hinckley, was walking in memory of her grandma, Ann Johnson, 74, who died 18 months ago.
“My gran didn’t even tell us she was ill until the end, so it was a bit of a shock,” she said.
“I’m doing the walk in her honour. I’ve plenty of layers on and we’ll stop for a drink on the way and warm up!”
Tammy’s friend, Joanne Edgar, 50, was there to keep her spirits up as they trudged along the soggy six-mile circuit, and was taking part in memory of her aunt.
“We’re doing the Moon Walk in London in about a month, too,” said Joanne. “That’s 26 miles, so this is kind of a warm- up for us.”
Also lining up at the start line on Saturday evening was Twilight Walk first-timer Michelle Barrett, 38, from Mountsorrel, who was there with her sister, Tracey Barrett, 35.
She said: “At first we just wanted to do this to raise money for charity, but the more we thought about it the more we realised we knew people who has been affected, or who had died from cancer.
“LOROS is definitely a worthy cause and they help a lot of people.”
Organiser Christian Weikert-Picker said many of the fundraisers stopped for the odd drink along the route – it was part and parcel of the event.
“We’ve always said it’s the biggest girls’ night out in Leicester. We’re not advocating a massive pub crawl, but if girls want to have a drink along the way, that’s all part of the fun.”
While the number taking part was down on last year, Christian is confident the sponsorship has at least equalled last year’s £50,000.
