St Leonard's Moonlight Walk 7 mile circular walk of York

St Leonard’s Moonlight Walk took place last night (September 14) and brought out fundraisers from across the region to raise money for the York hospice.

As The Press reported last month, walkers will get the chance to ‘paint the town neon’ and join friends and family for a glow-themed, seven-mile circular route of York with last year’s event raising £36,000 for the hospice.

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The walk started at 9pm from Tadcaster Road with neon clad dancers walking up across Knavesmire, past York landmarks Clifford’s Tower and the Shambles, onto the city walls, then back down to the hospice at Tadcaster Road for a well-deserved bacon butty.

The night itself began at 7pm with walkers dressed to the nines in a variety of different neon outfits - ready for warm up performers, face painting, carnival games, free sweets, and ice cream for everyone before the walk got underway.

Maggie of Graham’s Ices has been providing free ice creams to walkers for the past two years – getting through over 250 ice cream cones tonight alone, as well as ice lollies and tubs.

Maggie Rush of Graham's Ices gave away ice creams to race goers (Image: Alice Kavanagh)Speaking to The Press, Maggie shared the reason that she got involved as she felt it was ‘a nice thing to do’.

Continuing, she said: “When you think of all the people who have come down on a Saturday night and put in all this effort, giving them an ice cream is the least I can do.”

People turned out in groups of different sizes from couples to huge groups of family, colleagues, and friends – all here to honour loved ones who had received care through St Leonards or simply to support a worthy cause.

The welcome event also featured meeting point for solo walkers, who were seeking buddies to walk with, and riders from the York Inset Scooter Club riding ahead of the walkers to help set the course.

The crowd were on their feet, dancing to performers ahead of the race (Image: Alice Kavanagh) Gaby O’Grady, Head of Communications and Marketing for St Leonard’s, said: “The atmosphere is amazing - quite a lot of people return every year.

“Events like this help us to raise around £6 million every year; the hospice costs £8 million a year to run and we only receive a quarter of that from the government, so we love everything that people do to help us raise the rest.

“What’s really lovely is that patients on the inpatient ward know about the walk and can see what’s going on - they’ve also been getting a chance to enjoy free ice creams!”

York based radio station YO1 Radio hosted the pre-walk entertainment from its roadshow stage – making sure that everyone was in good spirits and suitably warmed-up.

YO1 Radio also broadcast a special live three-hour programme from its studio in Goodramgate, which was turned into a ‘Dedication Station’ along the route of the walk.

YO1 managing director, Wayne Chadwick, said: “We were able to chat with hundreds of walkers as they passed our city centre studio, learning why each of them was taking part in what was a fantastic event. We were very proud to be part of a very special occasion.

"The atmosphere at the start was, appropriately, electric and we’d like to congratulate every single person taking part for making it a very moving but most enjoyable evening.”

Stewards Wendy Atkinson and Lynda Ruddock (Image: Alice Kavanagh)Steward and former deputy sister at the hospice, Lynda Atkinson also praised the event, saying: "Wendy and I do all sorts for St Leonards - this, tombolas, wrapping the antlers at Christmas.

"We do it all for the patients as you can actually see how it goes directly to their care. I worked here as a sister for 14 years before I retired and I only wish I'd started sooner."