CWU Young Workers take on the West Highland Way Walk for Charity

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I don’t think the 8 members of the team who agreed to take part in the West Highland Way Charity Walk truly knew what they were letting themselves into when the idea was first formulated in 2017.

But they took up the challenge and ran with it (well walked – but that semantics!)

The CWU Young Workers Charity Promise came about when 3 motions were passed at the 2017 Young Workers Conference that asked for funds and awareness be raised for organisations that support mental health issues – particularly suicide amongst young people and homelessness.

The committee had no trouble in picking the three charities – Papyrus UK, Centrepoint and the Ron Todd Foundation. All three charities work directly with young people and support them in times of crises. Indeed, some of the CWU’s young workers have first-hand experience of dealing with all three charities – so it wasn’t hard to choose would be recipients of any funds raised.

When the time came to do the walk the team picked that moment when Scotland was basking in a mini heatwave and the famous midges were out in record numbers. But this didn’t deter them. The 96 miles took them through Drymen, Rowardennan, Crianlarich, Inveroran, Kinlochleven and finally into Fort William.

They took in some incredible views and walked the length of Loch Lomond in one day. They camped for 5 nights which saw them having to hide in their tents to escape the midges and as thunder storms raged. They also took on the challenge of completing the walk in 6 days as opposed to the more popular 7 or 8 days.

The team stayed resilient throughout and having experienced the wonders of the Highlands they also surpassed their fundraising target of £5,000.

The team consisted of:

Jimi Brown – South Midlands Postal
Fiona Curtis – Northern Ireland Telecoms
Elli Long – Greater Mersey & S W Lancs
Scott Hartles – Scotland No 2
Adam Gibbins – Somerset, Devon & Cornwall
Andrew Mercer – Bootle Financial Services
Charlie Pullinger – CWU Head Office
Jo Thair – CWU Head Office
Tom Cooper – T&FSE (Support)

The team and the CWU would like to thank each and every person who has donated money and supported them on this journey.

They are still taking donations: Please consider giving something (no amount too small). Just click on the link and pick any name – it all goes into the same pot.

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[baldrick]

Donation sent.
I walked most of the West Highland Way about 25 years ago. I skipped the first 10 miles from Glasgow, but walked the 86 miles from Drymen in five days. I was lucky to have good weather in June, and before the midge season. Rannoch Moor was spectacular and I walked 26 miles across it and over the Devil's Staircase into Glencoe in 8 hours, but was quite stiff the next day.
Well done to the CWU Young Workers for doing this and raising money for good causes.