RETURN TO HALE

We lived in Hale, Cheshire, until we went to live overseas in 1995. So we were looking forward to visiting on Thursday. We were there to give a talk to Hale U3A but we arrived early and had a wander around the village, marvelling at the changes which had taken place. Even more estate agents, cafes, restaurants, and several places to advise you what to do with your fortune, if you have one.

The last time we were in Bowdon Assembly Rooms, the venue, was for the prize-giving for the local athletics club, of which we were members. This time the room was packed with about 200 U3A members. There were even a couple of old friends in the audience.

My talk was, as always,  well-received. Many members approached me afterwards to enthuse about the talk and about the walk itself. I signed and sold 14 copies of "Vic's Big Walk from SW France to NW England" and my fundraising achievement jumped from 200% (reached only two days earlier) to 205%.

The E-book version of "Vic's Big Walk" can be downloaded from any reputable e-book source, such as Amazon, Apple, Kobo, et cetera. All proceeds go direct o Pancreatic Cancer UK.

BANG ON 200%

Shevington, a farmstead near a hill called shevin, derives from the Celtic cevn meaning a ridge and the Old English tun, a farmstead. It is a hill slope settlement in the Douglas Valley recorded in documents in 1225 as Shefington.^[6] Other recorded spellings include Scheuynton in 1253, Sheuington in 1277, Sewinton 1288 and Sheuynton in 1292.^[7]

That was then, this is now. And yesterday Vic Talks The Walk rolled into Shevington, thanks to an invitation to speak to the Over 50s Club. I was invited by Gerald, a lone man - and prime mover - among the membership of women.

Thanks to the generosity of the members - a speaker fee, some individual donations and some book sales - My fundraising for Pancreatic Cancer UK rose to 200% of the target I set for July 2020.

The previous week I had reached 199% while speaking to Lancaster and Morecambe U3A in the Duke's Theatre in Lancaster. My slides, through the cinema projector, were filling the cinema screen and were dwarfing me as I strutted about, attempting to escape the blinding light.

RUFUS, NO FLOOK

Last week we made the journey from Lancashire to Bedfordshire, stayed with our friends Rob and Judith in Ampthill and on Thursday morning we hopped over to the Rufus Centre at Flitwick.

When I was a lad Rufus meant only two things to me.

One was that King William Rufus had been killed in suspicious circumstances while hunting in the New Forest. An arrow from one of his own men was what did for him. An accident? Tell it to the marines - especially in the knowledge that his courtiers just left his body lying in the forest and went home to have a cup of tea.

The other Rufus in my knowledge then was the little boy in the newspaper cartoon "Flook". Rufus, in a dream of the stone age, rescued a baby woolly mammoth, Flook, from where he was cowering in a cave from some sort of persecution. When Rufus woke up, Flook was there with him and they proceeded to have adventures for many years.

I am not sure who the Rufus Centre is named after but Wikipedia lists an astonishing number of well-known (more or less) individuals with what I thought was an unusual name.

The Rufus Centre is an excellent conference and function centre and last Thursday it was being used by Flitwick U3A for their monthly speaker meeting, starring yours truly and his tale of an epic 70-day walk. The organisers apologised before the meeting because they thought numbers might be down, what with August being the epicentre of the holiday season. Seating capacity was 200, in superb banked formation. There were not many empty seats.

The talk went well, excellent reaction from the audience, many signed copies of my book changed hands and many individual donations were made to Pancreatic Cancer UK. A total of £292 was raised, taking me to 196% of my target for this phase (raising funds jusr by speaking) of my fundraising.

Rob and Judith, who during the Big Walk popped up in central France to take us out to dinner, came to the performance, as did our other great friends in Ampthill, Mike and Ann.

My next performance will be in The Dukes Theatre in Lancaster.

Hospitallers and Hospitality

                      Beconsaw. Sable a cross formy argent, in the sinister quarter an escallop of the second.



The village of Hesketh-with-Becconsall was at one time in the possession of the Knights Hospitaller until Henry VIII decided otherwise. It lies almost directly across the Ribble estuary from our apartment in Lytham. Probably no more than 4 miles away, it took us almost an hour to drive there this morning. 

We went to Becconsall to Talk The Walk to Becconsall U3A in the coldest hall in which I have yet performed I think it was colder in than outside. I suggested that we abandon the talk and do an exercise class instead so that everybody could cast off their overcoats and stop huddling. This seemed to meet with general approval but maybe they thought it was a joke so I reverted to the talk. 

The talk seemed to go down well, as usual, with bursts of laughter and general enthusiasm. We raised a decent sum for Pancreatic Cancer UK and I signed a few books into slavery. As usual, we met some lovely people and had some interesting conversations before and after the meeting.

We were pleased to note that the Community Hall is to be rebuilt soon, hopefully with adequate heating. 

I have abandoned Facebook, so this blog will from now on be the only public means of recording my progress.

I am now at about 176% of my fundraising target for, again, this phase of fundraising - since we came to live back in Britain. The £25,000 I have raised in total is just a drop in the ocean compared with the millions needed to fund the research to find a cure and a reliable method of diagnosis for this most deadly and savage type of cancer.

You don't need to attend one of my talks to help me in this task. You can donate by clicking on the "Justgiving" button on this page. No amount is too small (or too large).

Do you have an e-reader - a Kindle, Kobo, iPad or some such? Wherever you buy your e-books, you can buy a copy of my book about the Big Walk for the price of a coffee. Just search for "Vic's Big Walk from SW France to NW England". About £1 will go directly to Pancreatic Cancer UK.

THE BEATLES BEAT ME TO IT

Yesterday I Talked The Walk - about my epic 70-day footslog from the French Pyrenees to North West England - to Barnston Women's Institute.

The venue was the WI hall in Barnston, on the Wirral. Proudly displayed on the outside wall is this plaque, which records that the Beatles played here 3 times in early 1962, just before the height and frenzy of their fame.

My talk went down very well, to a packed house. I have now given it to more than 10,000 people. I raised a substantial amount of money for Pancreatic Cancer UK and have now raised almost £14,000 from this phase of my fundraising - just by speaking and selling autographed copies of my books.

I am now at about 170% of my fundraising target for, again, this phase of fundraising - since we came to live back in Britain. The £25,000 I have raised in total is just a drop in the ocean compared with the millions needed to fund the research to find a cure and a reliable method of diagnosis for this most deadly and savage type of cancer.

You don't need to attend one of my talks to help me in this task. You can donate by clicking on the "Justgiving" button on this page. No amount is too small (or too large).

Do you have an e-reader - a Kindle, Kobo, iPad or some such? Wherever you buy your e-books, you can buy a copy of my book about the Big Walk for the price of a coffee. Just search for "Vic's Big Walk from SW France to NW England". About £1 will go directly to Pancreatic Cancer UK.