The Fun Walk organisers held a publicity event at Wat Tyler Park on Friday to raise awareness of the Platinum Jubilee Fun Walk which runs through June. Charities and local community group are encouraged to register and complete a sponsored walk and benefit from the Fun Walk Bonus Pot.
The Bonus Pot is a unique feature of the event and is distributed on a pro rata basis, based on the sponsorship money raised. Last year it added 30% to the amount raised by participants.
John Baron MP, Chair of The Fun Walk Trustees, said
“We were delighted to welcome the Deputy Lieutenant of Essex, Professor Michael Almond to our Launch Event. He was representing Her Majesty the Queen, as this year’s event is called the Platinum Jubilee Fun Walk in her honour.
We wanted to recognise and thank our long term Bonus Pot sponsors: Greater Anglia, Brown & Carroll (London), IFE Global Logistics, Anisha Grange Care Home, Tunnelcraft, Butyl Products, McDonald’s Restaurants Basildon, Mr Barrie Stone and others.
To help us launch the event we were also joined by some of the wonderful organisations that the Fun Walk supports: Basildon Heritage, Basildon Town Twinning, the Samaritans of Basildon & Thurrock, and Brighter Opportunities for Special People (BOSP).
From its inception in 2002 the Fun Walk has raised over £1.3M for local charities and community groups, which is an amazing achievement given that it started 20 years ago and raised just £6,000 for the 6 organisations in the first year.
This year’s event has over 70 local charities and community groups already registered and an estimated 2,000 supporters ready to complete their sponsored walk. We are hoping this will be another great year and invite organisations to register at www.thefunwalktrust.co.uk”.
