The Isle of Wight branch of Samaritans received a special visitor last week as one of its mainland volunteers popped in during his epic fundraising walk – which will see him visit all 201 of the charity’s branches.
David Matthews, a listening volunteer from Doncaster visited the Isle of Wight on Saturday (12th April) as part of his epic fundraising walk around the UK and Ireland.
David originally hatched the plan several years ago when he was in charge of fundraising at his local branch. He said:
“I thought I should do something myself to raise funds, so I started with the idea of walking to all the branches in Yorkshire. Although it seemed a daunting prospect, I found it all went smoothly, and I realised I could do more – so the idea grew from there.”
So it was that two years ago, in April 2019, David set out on his epic tour, encompassing all Samaritans branches from Lerwick in the Shetland Isles to Truro in Cornwall, and including branches in Wales, Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic.
Undaunted by the turbulent influence of Covid in 2020, David continued his project whenever he could, and aims to complete the journey by Christmas this year – some 2 years and 8 months since he set out.
Isle of Wight branch was number 101 in the list of branches David has visited. He arrived at 10am in Cowes and walked the 5 miles to meet a (socially distanced) welcoming group Newport branch, then continued on his way, catching the 3pm ferry back. For the next few weeks he will be visiting other branches in the Southern region.
He added:
“It’s been an eventful adventure, but I wouldn’t change it for the world. Sometimes, in the middle of winter, in the rain and snow, you wonder ‘What on earth am I doing?’, but then somebody will walk or drive past and stop and talk.
“They always say how much they appreciate Samaritans, and many of them will tell me about a time when they themselves needed support from us and we helped them get through.”
Impressed by David’s grit and determination, and the support the Samaritans provides for people with emotional difficulties or suicidal feelings, supporters have so far donated over £12,000 to the charity. You can donate to Samaritans at https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/DavidMatthews.
Fantastic work all. 🙂
One old pensioner walks 100 laps of his garden and raises 32 million… these guys walk all across and people have only donated 12k so far… mad world we live in. Well done, great cause and charity.
Wholly unnecessary, let alone non-essential, travel. If he stayed overnight then also illegal. “Ooh, I am on a walking hollibobs for charity..” Self serving escapism, more like.
exactly – flagrant disregard for the lockdown rules and publicly bragging about it – needs fining.