In addition to the hugely successful Communal Walk that took place last week, the Chadwick family, including Olivia (Fifth Form) and William (Third Form) completed a walking challenge called ‘Issy’s Journey 2021’, to raise money for the Hedgehog Ward in Pembury Hospital, in which Olivia and William’s sister is currently receiving help. Olivia has kindly written an update to their story below.

“During the month of August, my family and I embarked on a charity walking challenge called ‘Issy’s Journey 2021’, to raise money for the Hedgehog Ward at Pembury Hospital.

We each decided to walk 77 miles during the month, 77 to represent the number of days Isabelle was in hospital. Our initial target on the JustGiving page was £1,000, but within 24 hours we had raised over that amount, so we increased it to £2,000.

Our first walk was on the 8th August and we walked a distance of five miles – a great start. Our walks were mainly around our local area and we also went to Knole Park to organise a route for the final walk.

On 12th August, we did two walks, one four-mile walk in the morning and one three-mile walk in the evening. We walked twice on this day because the local BBC news joined us on our evening walk. After the walk, the journalist interviewed each of us about Issy’s journey and the following week we all appeared on the local news.

As we continued our walks, we all got a few blisters, there were a few aches and pains, but we were all determined to keep going and stay motivated to raise awareness for this important cause. Having changed our target a few times, the money has just kept on coming in.

Our final walk took place on Monday 30th August in Knole Park and we were joined by about 50 friends, family and other supporters. We were all overwhelmed by the number of people who joined us for the last four miles. It was a great way to end our challenge.

Having completed our challenge in 20 walks, taking a total of 26 hours and 15 minutes, we each walked a grand total of 77.31 miles.

To date, we have raised over £12,000 with more to come. We are in communication with the hospital in order to ensure the funds go to mental health support.”

The School’s Communal Walk last week raised nearly £1,600, which is incredible. You can watch the video of the walk here. 

You can find out more about the Chadwick story and donate here – https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/issyjourney2021.

We are so proud of you and your family, Olivia and William and we will continue to fundraise for this important cause.