Oh the humanity! I spent an entire Sunday shuffling around the house in a delicate disposition, bleary eyed and tired then being forced to bed early by the husband. In my younger days I could have put this down to excessive partying the night before, this time however it could only be blamed on a little midnight stroll. OK maybe it wasn’t so little, maybe it was about 5 miles and maybe as a result I didn’t get home until 2am.
It was all in a very good cause though, all to raise money for St Elizabeth Hospice an independent charity that provides free palliative care for people with active, progressive and advanced illnesses. They’ve played a key part in my life with the support they provided for my mum as she had an abject fear of ending up in a hospice for her final days so they helped make life as comfortable as they could for her in her own home. They also helped my husbands grandmother and it seems most people I speak to have had one family member or another helped by the Hospice. Never has this been more apparent than when you witness not only the sea of Midnight Walkers but also the dedications and words of remembrance worn on their personalised T-shirts.
What are these Midnight Walkers? Well in a nutshell they’re sponsored walkers. Every year St Elizabeth Hospice organises a special circular walk around Ipswich town. The walk starts around 11-11:30pm so by midnight all walkers are on their way. There are two routes to choose from, one is 5 miles and one is 8 miles, they both start and finish at Ipswich Town Football club in Portman road, and the 8 mile route rather poignantly passes by the St Elizabeth Hospice where they have a ‘tree of remembrance’ which walkers are invited to hang little messages for their loved ones on.
I, being new to the event and a complete wuss that didn’t want to still be wandering around Ipswich Town in the early hours of the morning, opted for the 5 mile walk. So at around 9:30pm I donned my t-shirt and bar code (so I could be scanned in and out) and headed off to Portman Road.
The sight on arrival was amazing, I have never seen so much pink, glitter and flashy lighty up stuff in my life and that was just at the entrance. I made my way past the lines of oddly dressed women waiting to have their picture taken or buy fairy wings and out onto a field which was literally alive with tutus and wigs. Fortunately for me the couple of co-walkers I was supposed to be meeting were a little late so I was at liberty to stand at the sidelines and take in this truly spectacular sight. The amount of time and effort that had obviously gone into some costumes was fantastic, and nearly everyone I saw had a heartfelt message for a loved one written on their t-shirt, some simply had a single name, saying so much in just a single word. I also saw so many people I knew and recognised, I was even amazed and ever so amused to see a few of my husbands aunts there, the amusement came from one of them wearing a rather large multi-coloured wig!
As 10:30 came around the crowd headed towards a stage at the top of the field in order to do our ‘warm-up’ which was ZUMBA!! This seemed to be enjoyed by most, with at least a teeny bit of effort being put in by all. Unfortunately, due to a medical condition I’ve got at the moment I wasn’t able to do much jiggling about. Well I say I wasn’t able to, I was able to and quite promptly did so . . it just led to me making a quick dash to the ladies loos and having to just delicately bop to the music for the rest of the warm-up.
Then we were OFF!!
All in all it took me 1 hour and 40 minutes to do my little five-mile walk, and even though, less than a mile in, I had to say goodbye to my compadres as they trundled off on the 8 mile route leaving me to do the rest of the walk on my own, I wasn’t really alone. There were Midnight Walkers everywhere, and I ended up walking with a whole range of people, from a group of travel agents discussing difficult customers, to members of a WI exchanging gardening tips. Also scattered along the route, at every road crossing and mile mark, were stewards (volunteers who had given up their time to stand around on a rather brisk May evening offering words of encouragement to an endless stream of crazy ladies) There was also, I’m delighted to say, a tea and biscuit stand halfway along the route for that extra little oomph we all needed. We were all rather well catered for and looked after and I must say I have never felt so safe walking the streets of Ipswich.
When I was done I was proud of myself, I had finished in good time with an amazing sense of self achievement, a medal, and a bacon roll!
. . and I’ll definitely be doing this again next year!
Call the Seamstress! 