Great Big Walk for Herts raises over £52,000 for children's charities

Helping Herts, the official charity of the Stort Valley Rotary Club, brought together 12 children's charities for the Great Big Walk for Herts on Saturday (24 September). Between them they walked 2000 miles – which is even further than the distance from London to Kiev! A whopping £52,354 (plus gift aid) was raised, all of which will go towards supporting children and young people across Hertfordshire.

One hundred and seventy people took part including staff from the charities, their customers and supporters who walked a designated leg of the Hertfordshire Way. Eight members of the Stort Valley Rotary Club, which set up the Helping Herts charity, were on hand to supervise major road crossings to ensure the safety of all the walkers. Also in attendance wasThe High Sherriff of Hertfordshire; Peter Taylor, Mayor of Watford; Dave Anderson, Mayor of Bishops Stortford, as well as best-selling author Ken Follett who completed the walk with the Home-Start Herts team.

Helping Herts would like to thank Ian Hirst and the Friends of the Hertfordshire Way who helped guide the volunteers to make sure everyone knew where they were going, and all the walkers and those who have donated to support the campaign.

The charities involved in Great Big Walk for Herts included:

• Coram Life Education

• Carers in Herts

• Herts Young Homeless

• For Baby's Sake

• Herts Mind Network

• Grove Cottage

• Riding for the Disabled

• Home Start Herts

• Phoenix Group for Deaf Children & Adults

• PlaySkill

• The Ollie Foundation

• NSPCC

Catherine Hemming from Hitchin walked for the Helping Herts Team. She said: "The weather was on our side for the Great Big Walk for Herts. It was a beautiful sunny day walking around some of the most stunning parts of Hertfordshire. To know we were part of a team simultaneously walking the circumference of our county for a wonderful cause felt amazing!"

Gordon Morrison, co-founder of Helping Herts said: "We are extremely grateful to the charities for all of the time and energy they put into the Great Big Walk for Herts, and to everyone who joined in or who has sponsored. It's not too late to donate via: http://herts.heroes.help. All donations are being doubled by the Chaldean Estate, so you can make a really big difference."

Jim Tatchell, co-founder of Helping Herts said: "Between the charities each taking on a section of the route and the Helping Herts teams we covered the whole of Hertfordshire, which has really put this campaign on the map. It takes a huge amount of organisation and effort to pull a challenge like this off - but with a lovely sunny day and so many wonderful supporters we did our county proud!"