The walkers who tackled the challenge of the second Walk Tonbridge Marathon – part of the Walk Tonbridge Festival, which CooperBurnett LLP is proud to be sponsoring – enjoyed near perfect sunny weather for their epic 26-mile walk.
The challenge began at Tonbridge Baptist Church, the home of the town’s community foodbank, Sustain, as dawn broke on Sunday 18 September. Once again, the Walk Tonbridge Festival is raising vital funds for this charity.
Teams – which included ones from CooperBurnett LLP, Crowe UK and Sargeant Partnership LLP – walked around the villages surrounding Tonbridge and called in at checkpoints at pubs including The Chaser Inn in Shipbourne, The Kentish Rifleman in Dunks Green, The Bell Inn in Golden Green and The Poacher & Partridge in Tudeley.
Like last year, the walk was meant to finish at Tonbridge Castle but the location was moved due to the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Instead, the teams were welcomed to The Escape Art Centre in the town, where there were welcome sofas and even more welcome beer and wine. A huge thank you to Richard and the team there.
The CooperBurnett team included Senior Associate Sarah Strong and Partner Joseph Oates who undertook the challenge last year. They were joined on Sunday by Associate Solicitor Ayla Clissold; Practice Manager Clare Kelly; PA to the Commercial Property Team, Hannah Mashford; and Partner Victoria Sampson.
“It was a great opportunity to get to know everyone better and explore new areas of the Kent countryside,” said Clare. “Challenges such as this always bond people together – it’s the longest distance I have ever walked and I’ll definitely be doing it again next year!"
Adds Ayla: “As a relative newbie, it was a great opportunity for me to get to know everyone better and I loved the feeling of us all working towards the same goal. The countryside we walked through was exquisite and it has given me a whole new area to explore.”
Victoria volunteered last year and says of her experience of the 26-mile walk this time around: “Personally, I loved the freedom of spending time with TeamCB colleagues without any pressures. I remain in awe of the Kentish countryside and loved discovering new backwaters. Raising money and awareness for Sustain was a key plus for me.”
Any event like this depends on volunteers giving up their time to make it happen. Much of the organisation fell to Senior Associate Katie Hilsdon, who worked alongside James Pavlou of Walk Tonbridge to make sure the event ran smoothly and, of course, safely.
Other team members who gave up their time to sit at checkpoints and encourage walkers included Senior Paralegal Carla Loveday, Partner Gemma Gillespie and Senior Associate Natasha Smith. In addition, there were a number of other people who gave up their precious time to help out. Huge thanks to them all!
