DO IT FOR CHARITY .................

There must be many thousands of pounds raised for various charities across the Island every year from participants in the Parish, I too have raised for many different worthwhile organisations. The people of the Isle of Man are so generous when it comes to putting their hands in their pockets for charity- there are over 600 registered charities here in the Isle of Man.

Remember the year 2008, that very wet Parish ?? My employers, The Bank of Scotland Int. (HBOS) challenged 80 of their UK workers to come to the island and attempt the 'Parish'. Each had to raise a minimum sum of money for the Bank's Charity of the Year, Clic Sergent (a UK children's cancer charity). The day before the Parish, we collected them from the airport and sea terminal on a bright and sunny Friday and settled them into their hotel, with a free afternoon to enjoy the sights and sea views of our capital, Douglas. In the evening we shared a meal and a welcome presentation from our bosses to our walking guests. Parish walk officials attended and registered our visitors giving them an overview of what they should expect the following day. They made our guests very welcome and wished them luck for the following day.

I wasn't walking that year as I was one of the organisers bringing the walkers to our shores - I drove a 10 seater mini bus following our teams around the course. We ferried them all to the NSC on what started out as a dry and calm morning, we had over 100 packed lunches, water, juice, fruit and energy bars for our teams, enough to feed an army and enough bananas to feed a Zoo.

We divided the walkers into 3 groups -
1.those walking to Rushen 2. those walking to Peel 3. and those attempting the full Parish.

We had 20 HBOS walkers all signed up to continue past Peel and so we provided 20 support drivers from the Bank all prepared for a long evening ahead.

Of course as we all know the dry, calm day did not continue for long- I was in the mini bus at Santon when the rains came down and the wind got up. We were trying to find 80 walkers' rain coats and hats in tons of bags and back packs in the 3 mini buses- we had named and colour coded their bags but of course the walkers were well spread out even after 10 miles of walking! I guess we hadn't quite planned for 80 of them requiring items of clothing from their bags at the same time but the biggest difficulty was the traffic on the roads and having a large mini bus to manoeuvre!

Most of the first group of walkers had reached Rushen , soaking wet, cold and hungry- the plan to coach them to Peel to see their colleagues reach the second part would have been great on a fine day- so the coach took them straight back to the Sefton for a hot bath and some rest.

Driving up the Sloc desperately trying to identify 'our' guys, (they had been issued with fluorescent armbands for ease of us locating them) but was made more tricky as they had donned their coats and fleeces over their armbands and numbers in order to take protection from the driving wind and rain or should I say sleet. A gentleman from Douglas was knocking on the window of my side pleading to be rescued, he dragged himself onto our mini bus, so glad to get out of the appalling weather. (I received a phone call from him on Monday morning thanking me for 'saving' him on the Sloc!!) Once we got many of them to the Round Table we phoned ahead for our local colleagues to come and return them to their hotel - They were exhausted, soaked and pretty miserable. It was so unfortunate for these guys to experience this awful weather in their 1st Parish Walk as most of us know it's a wonderful friendly occasion where everyone is happy to be taking part and being a part of this fantastic event !

Well all of our walkers finished either before or at Peel except for one of the HBOS team member and that was Martin Malone - Manx resident and CMI employee (part of the HBOS Group). Well done Martin for being our only finisher, I am quite sure I would not have been able to continue had I been walking, although there were over 100 finishers which was amazing!

Later that evening I went down to watch the winners walk the Prom to the finish line and many of the HBOS guys were there to watch this amazing race come to an end - for some!

The next day we hosted a Gala Celebration lunch and many of them were presented with awards for various categories we had defined. They returned home later that day having had a wonderful weekend (despite the weather) and some vowed to return to 'tackle the Parish' again.
They did too, 3 people came back for more in 2009, one got to Andreas, one to Maughold and one actually finished 'The Parish' in drier and calmer conditions than the year before.
As ever the organisers did a brilliant job ensuring everyone arrived back safely despite everyones struggle with the elements!

Over £80,000 was raised that year by all our HBOS walkers for the children's cancer unit which was just magnificent and a real purpose to their eventful weekend in the usually beautiful Isle of Man.

If you are 'tackling' the Parish this year maybe you can raise a few pounds for a charity close to your heart, they will be extremely grateful for your efforts and every little helps. Get a team together, ask for sponsorship, people from the Isle of Man are so very generous and above all have some fun going out for walks and keeping fit. Have a good week- Angie

PS: Did I say I had been training? I have honestly, not very long walks but little and often is my motto - for now!