We are delighted to announce the latest in our long line of charity challenges: 4Forty. 4Forty is in keeping with our recent history of gruelling physical challenges and will see members of staff attempting to complete the Lyke Wake Walk, 42 Miles over the North Yorkshire Moors to raise money for Variety, the Children’s Charity.
Last summer, our staff completed the National Three Peaks Challenge, climbing Ben Nevis, Scaffell Pike and Snowdon in 24 hours, whilst raising £13,217.26 for Help for Heroes and Variety.
This year, on the 6th June, they will walk a 42 mile route across the North Yorkshire Moors between the villages of Osmotherley in the west and Ravenscar near the east coast. The name is a mouthful and a little unusual; “lyke” means “corpse” while “wake” is the act of watching over it. In order to be able to say that you have completed the Lyke Wake Walk, you have to make the trek from end to end within 24 hours. And yes, some Lyke Wake walkers go the whole hog by dressing as undertakers and carrying a coffin! Our 4Forty team will endeavour to conquer this latest challenge and become “dirgers” (men) or a “witch” (women): the names given to people who have completed the walk within 24 hours.
Training for this gruelling event is already underway, headed up by Dean Cartledge, our Telemarketing Director. He will be training the 4Forty volunteers and putting them through their paces on local training sessions making use of the Purbecks, The New Forest, The South Downes and Salisbury Plain. Whether the training will fully equip the team for what lays ahead remains to be seen; the walk will require them to negotiate miles of open moorland, countless stone crosses and ascents totalling 5,000 feet- more than climbing Ben Nevis. Worst of all, one notoriously long section of bog which the guidebook cheerfully describes as “either a bounce across the peat or you’ll be up to your waist in it depending on time of year and recent rainfall.” Clearly, this year’s challenge isn’t for the faint of heart which is why the challenge requires so much training.
We are aiming to raise over £10,000 for Variety via both the walk and pre-event fundraising activities. If you would like to give towards their target, please visit: https://www.justgiving.com/4Forty
Alternatively, if you would like to donate a prize for a pre-event raffle, please contact [email protected]
