Money raised for Charity in Widecombe
Mary Down brings to our attention a couple of events this year which raised good sums of money for charity
Mary writes….
For anyone who missed them, Widecombe hosted two exciting charity events in October, bringing lots of people from all over the country to visit our village.
The annual tractor run, took place at the beginning of October and even though it was a wet drizzly Sunday, over 25 tractors of all shapes, sizes and ages arrived in the village at lunch time. This event organised by John Druett, saw the tractors drive over the moor from Princetown to Widecombe, where they parked up to take a breather and chat with us, sell a few draw tickets and pass the collection bucket around, before setting off back to Princetown. John was thrilled that this year they raised £890.75 for the Devon Air ambulance
Next year's event will be on Sunday 28th September 2025.
The following weekend we saw the annual 13 tors Marie Curie walk take place. Over the last few years they have had to turn walkers down, so this year it was held over the Saturday and the Sunday, with 187 walkers on the Saturday and 185 on the Sunday. As 200 had registered for each day this was a brilliant achievement to have so few drop out.
As you can imagine this event takes some organising and is very dependent on the help of many volunteers, to man the checkpoints, park the cars and man the church house for the start, finish and cream tea at the end. Lots of people volunteering year after year and having the same regular checkpoint and jobs.
The lucky ones who walked on the Saturday had a lovely sunny day but unfortunately the Sunday started in thick fog which thinned to heavy rain but they all soldiered on and most arrived back still smiling. Walkers came from all parts of the country; many departing with a few Devon pasties back on the train to London.
This is one of Marie Curie’s largest events, people wise, and I think after holding it over 2 days this year probably one of largest in money raised as well. Over £94,000 so far - yes you did read that right; I haven’t added extra zeros. This adds up to 4086 hours of Marie Curie nursing care. What an amazing achievement.
Next year’s dates have already been booked for 11th and 12th October 2025
Why not put the dates into your diary for next year, and come and see the tractors chuffing through Widecombe; or perhaps you might like to help out on the Marie Curie weekend ?