17th June 2019

A massive thank you to the hundreds of people who turned out to take part in our first Walk for Worthing on the evening of Saturday 15^th June.

Worthing’s Mayor, Cllr Hazel Thorpe, and Town Crier, Bob Symtherman, officially opened the fundraising race at 8pm, which saw 250 supporters of all ages stride, stroll, shimmy and sprint the 5k route along the promenade. MP Tim Loughton, MP for East Worthing and Shoreham and patron of Guild Care, also took part.

All the money raised will help fund services to support people in the local community, including older people, people living with dementia and children and adults with learning disabilities and complex needs.

Daisy, 5, and her sister Katie, scooted along the route with their mum Paula Sheppard, who is a Home from Hospital volunteer for Guild Care. They chose to get involved as they wanted to support a local charity.

Lucie Dumbleton and her son Joshua Johnstone, 7, use Guild Care’s Ashdown service which supports children with learning disabilities and their families. Lucie said; “Joshua has ADHD and autism and the Ashdown service is a lifeline for us. When Joshua is there I can relax knowing he is having fun in a safe place. That’s why we are taking part to say thank you.”

The Trimble family ran along the promenade together. Laura, 21, Scott, 14 and dad Paul, 54 wanted to “support people who struggle with dementia”. Another family, made up of grandmother, Sue, daughter’s Stella and Alice and grandson Oscar 13, said, “We came to support Guild Care and all the great work they do in the community.”

The first person back from the 5k route was Chris Woods, who finished in an impressive 28 minutes. Also a well done to cousins Thomas Tavander, 12 who came in second place and Maggie Horne, also 12, who came in third. Fourth place went to Amanda Bartlett, who works for Guild Care’s Home Care team. Amanda only took up running four months ago and sprained her ankle earlier in the week, so was very pleased with her performance!

Suzanne Millard, CEO of Guild Care said; “We are very grateful to all the people who, despite the weather, still turned out to support our first Walk for Worthing. Everyone who took part said they really enjoyed it and hopefully we’ll see you all again next year. Thank you and well done.”