On the evening of Friday 21st September my daughter, Harriet, and I took part in a fundraising 10-mile Night Hike for Maggie’s Centres , a charity set up to help empower people to live with, through and beyond cancer by bringing together professional help, communities of support and building design to create exceptional centres for cancer care.
Who Maggie was:
Back in 1993, when Maggie Keswick Jencks was told that her cancer had returned with a vengeance, she set about realising her vision for a ‘cancer caring centre’ where patients could meet in a relaxed, well designed domestic-style environment, and be given the necessary support to help with the many stresses and psychological aspects of living with cancer.
Although Maggie was given only three months to live, she extended her life by a further eighteenth months after being given advanced chemotherapy treatment at the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh. During this special, extra time, and along with her architect husband Charles, she came up with the initial ideas and plans for her revolutionary venture.
Maggie’s programme now provides five core elements, all delivered within exceptional, uplifting and non-institutional building spaces :
Ø Emotional and Psychological Support
Ø Relaxation and Stress Management
Ø Information, such as about your diagnosis, personal help with treatment etc.
Ø Benefits Advice
Ø Other Support for Living with Cancer, such as Look Good...Feel Better, Nutrition etc.
Maggie, a writer, landscape designer, painter and mother of two, lost her life to cancer in July 1995 and the first Maggie’s Centre opened in the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh in November 1996.
The aim of the Charity is to raise sufficient funds to have fifteen Maggie’s centres across the UK by 2014 – there are currently thirteen spanning the UK plus one in Hong Kong and another in Barcelona.
The hike was held in conjunction with Open House London weekend which meant we enjoyed exclusive access to the city’s top architectural spaces, with the addition of being provided with food, drink and live music!
The Night Hike Registration was held at the famous London City Leadenhall Market in Gracechurch Street and we set off sharp at 7.30 p.m. after a much needed warm-up in the rain!
Passing by the Tower of London and across Tower Bridge, our first stop, at 1.5 miles, was City Hall – the home of the Mayor of London. Since I had twice previously visited this building, once for a YMCA conference on the top floor ‘London’s Living Room’ and another to listen to Boris Johnson’s Mayor’s Question Time, we continued on to the next stop (3.5 miles) which was the EDF Energy London Eye.
The time was now 9.30 p.m. and our hike journey continued across Westminster Bridge and the Houses of Parliament towards Birdcage Walk and Buckingham Palace Gardens, arriving at The Royal Geographical Society in Kensington (6.5 miles). The Society is a membership organisation and the building is, as such, not open to the public except for exhibitions in the Pavilion and other public events open to non-members, including Open House weekend and, of course, Maggie’s Night Hike! Here we could enjoy tea and biscuits and a well needed rest room pit stop.
Finally we reached Fulham Broadway tube station and I can honestly say, by this point and with the time just after 11 p.m., I was flagging! The volunteers had been cheering us along the way but, all of a sudden, they seemed to have disappeared! So, Harriet and I gave each other some encouraging words to keep going - we were literally only a mile and a half away from accomplishing our goal!
Harriet and I would like to say a big “thank you” to Maggie’s Centres for organising such a brilliant fundraising challenge and, we are pleased to report that, between us we have so far managed to raise £521 from our joint 10 mile Night Hike for this inspiring Charity.
If you would like to make a donation to Maggie’s Centres you can do so on our Just Giving pages:
Kay’s Just Giving Pages
Harriet’s Just Giving Page
Thank you!