On Friday (Day 165) I woke with
934 miles to go and travelled to Bradford, at the heart of the City of
Bradford, which is a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire. It lies in the
foothills of the Pennines and is just less than 9 miles west of Leeds and 16
miles northwest of Wakefield.
Bradford has a population of just
fewer than 300,000. It was historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire
and rose to prominence during the 19th century as an international
centre of textile manufacture, particularly wool. It was a boomtown of the
Industrial Revolution and became the “wool capital of the world”. The
area’s access to a supply of coal, iron ore and soft water facilitated the
growth of Bradford’s manufacturing base, which, as the textile manufacture
grew, led to an explosion in population.
The textile sector in Bradford
fell into decline from the mid-20th century. Since then, Bradford
has emerged as a tourist destination, becoming the first UNESCO City of Film
with attractions such as the National Media Museum, Bradford City Park, the
Alhambra Theatre and Cartwright Hall.
Bradford has faced similar
challenges to the rest of the post-industrial area of Northern England
including deindustrialisation, housing problems, social unrest and economic
deprivation.
My walk was hosted by Bradford
College http://www.bradfordcollege.ac.uk/
Bradford College’s Mission is “To help students from the region, nationally and
internationally, achieve their potential and make a rewarding contribution to
their own communities.”
Bradford College has been
delivering quality education and training for over 175 years. Each year they
deliver hundreds of courses to over 23,000 learners, from across the globe. The
College is the fourth largest in the country, the largest provider of higher
education outside of the university sector in England and has a national
reputation in a number of fields. It has been presented with a National Beacon
Award for its outstanding contribution to Equality & Diversity by the
Association of Colleges and awarded the Training Quality Standard – the highest
accolade possible in recognition of its excellent work with employers.
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| With the Nigerian 2012 London Olympic Boxing Team and young people at Bradford College on Day 165 of the BRIT 2012 mile walk |
Before I started my walk, I was
shown the College’s Boxing Facility. World-class Olympic athletes are using the
new state of the art £300,000 Boxing Centre, a facility part funded by the ABA
(Amateur boxing Association), the college and the University, which is located
in the heart of Trinity Green Campus during their pre-Olympic training session.
The Centre forms part of the £19.4 million Trinity Green Sports Complex, which
includes 120-bed accommodation for squads, visiting teams and a fully-equipped
sports centre. I had the pleasure of meeting members of the Nigerian
Boxing Federation and Male boxers Muideen Akanji (75kg) and Lukman Lawal (81kg)
who have qualified for the Olympic event, along with Edith Agu-Ogoke (75kg) who
will be competing in the first ever female Olympic boxing tournament.
My thanks to Nigel Redmond for
coordinating my visit and my thanks to Vanessa Hutchison for offering the
support of Bradford College to assist the BRIT Social Media Campaign in the
Autumn. I ended the day with 928 miles to go.
Day 166 took place in Kingston-Upon-Hull, East Riding of
Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire in the shadow of the Hull Suspension
Bridge and I was hosted throughout the day by a local charity called Altitude
Adventures with support from Howden
Detachment Light Dragoons, B Company, Humberside & South Yorkshire Army
Cadet Force.
After torrential rain on Friday,
Saturday’s weather in Hull took me by surprise. It was one of the hottest
days I have experienced this year and was energy sapping. The company was
delightful and I spoke to the volunteers who support Altitude Adventures,
Richard, who has Cerebral Palsy and has a great attitude for trying all sorts
of outdoor pursuits, and the young people from the Army Cadet Force. It was a
very enjoyable day and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.
Altitude Adventures http://www.altitudeadventures.org.uk/
is a fantastic charity. It was conceived following the identification of a need
to provide a means for those with a disability to enjoy the outdoors. The team
aims to provide the opportunity whereby everybody can get into the outdoors to
enjoy activities such as climbing, walking and even cycling.
Their team of staff is qualified
in the management of disabled persons engaged in these activities, and they
also have a large number of volunteers willing to assist. There are many
reasons why a disabled person could not be involved in these sports, and
Altitude Adventures recognised that the main ones appear to be cost, hiring of
instructors and the specialist equipment needed. Altitude Adventures strives to
reduce the cost by providing their own instructors, the equipment and the staff
needed. Funding has been applied for from both local and national trusts to
ensure that everyone, disabled or not, gets the opportunity to try something
they previously thought impossible.
In addition to outdoor activities
they also run indoor climbing sessions and for over 12s, a “have a go” at scuba
diving. Their website is well worth looking at and if you can assist them in
any way, there is a contact page on their website.
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| Day 166 of the BRIT 2012 mile walk & 6 miles from Kingston Upon Hull to East Riding with charity Altitude Adventures & the ACF |
By kind permission of Colonel D I
Fuller OBE, Commandant of Humberside and South Yorkshire ACF, I was supported
by Lieutenant Kevin Costello and young cadets from Howden Detachment Light Dragoons.
The Army Cadet Force (ACF) http://armycadets.com/
is a British youth organisation that offers training and experience around a
military training theme including adventurous training, at the same time as
promoting achievement, discipline, and good citizenship to young people between
the ages of 12 to 18 years and nine months.
Although sponsored by the Ministry of Defence the ACF is not a branch of
the British Armed Forces, and as such cadets are not subject to military 'call
up'. Some cadets do, however, go on to enlist in the Armed Forces in later
life, and many of the organisation's leaders have been cadets or have a
military background.
I spent a great deal of time with the ACF in my former career and I have
met hundreds of cadets throughout my 2012 mile walk this year. The ACF
provides excellent opportunities and to find a local detachment near you, this
is a link to find out how; http://armycadets.com/find-a-detachment/ There are also
volunteering opportunities http://armycadets.com/volunteer-with-us/ and there is an
information page for parents and carers; http://armycadets.com/parents-and-carers/
I am very fortunate that the
Chief of the Defence Staff, General Sir David Richards GCB CBE DSO ADC Gen, is a
BRIT Advisor and BRIT Mentor. It is therefore a pleasure for me to champion the
work of the ACF, to spend time talking to young cadets and also to signpost,
where appropriate, young people to the opportunities that the ACF provide.
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| General Sir David Richards GCB CBE DSO ADC Gen A BRIT Advisor and BRIT Mentor |
Following the day I stopped off at a Stratstone Land Rover dealer for a
water stop and to say hello to the staff of the dealership.
The BRIT vehicle, whilst also on the Motability Scheme http://www.motability.co.uk/main.cfm
as I am dependent on hand-controls, is
gifted by land Rover.
Land Rover http://www.landrover.com/gb/en/lr/
have very generously donated the BRIT Range Rover which, together with fuel
cost support from New Balance http://www.newbalance.co.uk/ , allows me to travel with no
cost to BRIT as a charity. These relationships are very personal ones of which
I am very fortunate and grateful, so it’s very important for me to say thank
you and to ensure that I show my gratitude to those employed by the organisations
who support BRIT.
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| Water-stop with BRIT Supporter, Stratstone Landrover, at their dealership in Hull with local charity Altitude Adventures |
It was a pleasure to drop in to the Land Rover Stratstone dealership in
Hull for a water-stop and to say thank you. It was also a pleasure for me to
introduce the dealership to Altitude Adventurers as one of their local
charities. There are always similarities between organisations and I firmly
believe that there are always mutually beneficial opportunities so I hope that
relationships will grow from the introductions that I make.
I ended the 166th day of my BRIT 2012 mile walk with 922 miles
to go.
This morning I travelled to Mablethorpe in Lincolnshire. With Schools,
Colleges and Universities closed, weekends are tough when out on the road as
hosted locations to walk at are hard to find. The organisations that always
step forward to assist are charities, sports organisations and the Emergency
Services.
Today was a very special day as I was supported by volunteers from the
Royal National Lifeboat Institute (RNLI) http://rnli.org/Pages/default.aspx
and Firefighters from Lincolnshire Fire & Rescue Service http://microsites.lincolnshire.gov.uk/LFR/
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| Fire Fighters from Lincolnshire, the crew of Mablethorpe RNLI Station & family members who joined my BRIT walk on Day 167 |
Mablethorpe is a small seaside town in East Lindsey on the coast of
Lincolnshire. The welcome and the hospitality that I was given was
unforgettable. The crews from the RNLI Station and the Fire & Rescue
Service, together with members of their families walked the whole six miles
with me and their encouragement and support is sincerely appreciated. I learned
a great deal from them; not only about the area, youth opportunities and how
tough it is for some families in the area, but also a great deal about work
opportunities that both the RNLI and Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue Service
offer.
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| With the volunteers of the Mablethorpe RNLI Station in Lincolnshire on Day 167 of my BRIT 2012 mile walk |
This has been a super 72 hours and a tough but enjoyable 18 miles. My
thanks to everyone for all their support and warmth.
I’m ending the weekend and Day 167 with 916 miles to go.
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| With Fire Fighters from Lincolnshire Fire & Rescue who joined me on Day 167 of my BRIT 2012 mile walk in Mablethorpe |
Tomorrow morning I set off for the St. Hughs Communication and
Specialist Interaction Speech Centre in Scunthorpe and then in the afternoon
travel over to Ormiston Maritime Academy in Grimsby before heading down to
Oxford.
With my very best wishes,
Phil