Basildon Cops Raise £3,000 --- Walking

Five Essex police officers have completed the first section of a gruelling 630-mile sponsored walk to raise money for a young constable left severely disabled after a sporting accident.

The team from Basildon police station trekked nearly 104 miles in six days and expect to raise more than £3,000 for Arron Williams, 25, who was based at Pitsea before he broke his neck playing rugby last September.

The walk is around the South West Coast Path which runs from Minehead in Somerset around the coast of Devon and Cornwall to finish at Poole in Dorset. The Basildon team completed the first phase to Hartland Quay, Devon on Saturday (May 10) before handing over to a team of officers from Pitsea police station who are now tackling the section from Hartland Quay to Perranporth.

Five other teams will cover four further sections of the walk to reach Poole on June 14. It is hoped that together the 50 officers involved will raise more than £12,000. Inspector David Miller, who organised the walk, was on the first section with district commander Chief Inspector Mark Wheeler, Insp Simon Dobinson, Insp Pat Mahoney, Sgt Cathy Gray and their support van driver Mim Moy.

“Despite our training walks and preparations the first few days of the walk were a real shock to the system,” said Insp Miller. “It was much harder than we thought and at first we struggled to keep going up and down over steep hills with gradients of about one in four. We all had blisters for the first few days but then we really got into our stride and we were easily coping with 12-15 miles or so in a day even in blazing sun and temperatures up to 70F.”

As well as raising money through sponsorship the Basildon team also returned with £430 raised from donations given by people along the route and also from a charity skittles match in a pub at Ilfracombe. The event was arranged by Ted Davidson, a retired Essex police office who now lives in Devon.

"We stopped at Ted’s place for a huge cream tea one afternoon before pressing on. We later returned to Ilfracombe for the skittles match against teams from the pub, local police and a local rugby club. A local businessman laid on a large buffet and some special raffle prizes were donated, including a voucher for a meal at Ilfracombe’s trendy Quay Restaurant, owned by the artist Damien Hirst.

“It was a fantastic night and thanks to the remarkable generosity of the local people it raised £360," said Insp Miller. "We held our own in the skittles match and managed to come a close last. We were presented with a wooden spoon engraved with some very strange skittle terms and we shall present it to Arron.”

Insp Miller was also given another usual gift for Arron when he stopped at a Devon farm to buy some sheepskin fleece rugs for his children. “The chap who runs the farm asked us about the sponsored walk and we told him that is was for Arron, after he was involved in a rugby accident. The farmer said that he was a rugby fan and had played himself and he wanted to do something for Arron. So he gave a special sheepskin for Arron to use on his wheelchair. It was a marvellous gesture.”

Money was also raised along the route when local people and tourists stopped the walkers and asked about their fundraising. Insp Miller added: “We met people from Essex who wanted to help by donating a few pounds and other walkers also chipped in. We raised about £70 from donations along the way.”

The team camped for the first four nights but the second two were spent at an hotel after the owner heard of the charity walk and wanted to help.“We were given free accommodation for the last night at the Hartland Quay Hotel. This was a truly charitable act by the managers Jill and Chris which meant that we could divert more funds towards Arron,” said Insp Miller.

Arron has been keeping in touch with the walkers by mobile telephone and is looking forward to a get-together at the end of the walk where he will thank all the walkers personally.Insp Miller said that the money raised would be used to buy equipment to help Arron lead as normal a life as possible. But Arron has also asked that about £6,000 should be donated to Stoke Mandeville Hospital to buy a special piece of equipment to help people in his position at the early stage of their injury.

Around £200 has been donated by people visiting Basildon police station and anyone wishing to support the walkers should send cheques, made payable to the Basildon Police Sports and Social Fund, to Insp David Miller, Basildon Police Station, Great Oaks, Basildon, SS14 1EJ.

Pictured from left are: Insp Pat Mahoney, Chief Insp Mark Wheeler, Sgt Cathy Gray, Insp Simon Dobinson and Insp David Miller on a track high above the Devon coastline