St John volunteers complete 30-mile fundraising yomp from Worksop to Fernwood
Neill Mison and Dave Daft, long-standing volunteers of St John Ambulance walked in full uniform, carrying standard St John first aid kits, including medical gasses and defibrillators, as St John volunteers carry whilst on duty providing medical cover at events.
Neill recalls the fundraising challenge: “Setting off at 4:30am from our St John meeting place, the BVCS building in Worksop, we headed out of Worksop and into the darkness, passing Clumber Park towards Edwinstowe.
After about an hour and a half we reached the edge of Sherwood Forest, which in the early morning light was quite a scene. Around 7am we reached the outskirts of Edwinstowe, passing the Major Oak and headed into the village, stopping at the Co-op for refreshments, who kindly donated £50 to us on our travels.
Heading out of Edwinstowe the next milestone, Rufford Park. Along a farm track then perhaps the toughest section so far as we climbed a long hill, which after 3 hours of walking, was tough! The track lead us into the outskirts of Bilsthorpe reaching the Flying High Academy where St John meet in Bilsthorpe at just after 9am. We rested for 20 minutes before heading off towards Kirtlington along a very busy road, which caused some issues with traffic, towards Southwell.
20 miles in Dave, normally very talkative ex royal combat engineer, was becoming silent and walk awkwardly, oh dear, blisters! Luckily the roads were rural so we could take it steady. A farmer stopped his tractor and jokingly said ‘Av you lost your vehicle!’, he ended up giving us a small donation which was a great boost!
Along the Southwell trail, we met our support driver Helen, and Julianna, Dave’s wife, with our very welcomed lunch. We decided Dave's blisters needed some care and rest, so I carried on and headed around Southwell Racecourse and the villages of Rolleston, Averham, Kellham and past Newark Rugby Club and into Newark.
After a rest in the support vehicle, it was off again. Through Newark and Balderton towards Fernwood, meeting the support crew at the A1 services at Fernwood. Only 1km from the finish now! Dave was very chirpy and couldn’t wait to get back into it! So, we completed the final leg together.
Walking into Fernwood was amazing. Everyone was clapping and cheering, and it felt just brilliant walking into the Village Hall – what a welcome! It was a very memorable, enjoyable, tiring but rewarding day and a huge ‘thank you’ to everyone who supported us.”
This was a challenging task for us, and we are grateful for everyone's support. You can still donate using our JustGiving page www.justgiving.com/page/neill-mison-dave-daft-sja-yomp
The afternoon was completed with the Newark Cadets demonstrating lifesaving first aid to the villagers at their Craft Fayre for the Save a life September campaign. visit sja.org.uk/save-a-life-september