Andrew wants to take you for a very long walk

By James Millar ANDREW MONCUR, from Dundee, will be putting his best foot forward for CHAS when he walks the Great Wall of China to raise cash for our campaign. Andrew hopes to raise more than £30,000 for our Hospice Challenge, but he’s hoping more people will join him on the walk so he can exceed even that total. Andrew walked the Great Wall last year as part of an effort to raise cash for the British Heart Foundation.

Andrew pictured on his trip to the  Great Wall last year.

When he read about our campaign, he decided to organise his own trip to China. He said, “It’s a fabulous trip. You see rural areas of China you would never normally visit. It’s a lot of fun, but there’s also a serious reason for being there — you can’t get a more serious cause than building a new children’s hospice.” Andrew (46) plans to cover around 70 kilometres in five days (about 43 miles), a relatively tiny section of the Great Wall’s 3500-mile length, but a fairly testing trek for most walkers.  He says, “It’s a hard walk, but very do-able. I do a bit of walking, although I’m not out every weekend, but I managed last year’s walk without too much trouble. “You would have to do some training before going, but you certainly don’t have to be ultra-fit. On last year’s walk there was a guy of 56 who managed it easily.” Andrew, a national accounts director for construction equipment suppliers Terex, first got involved with CHAS through his previous job. His old office supported the children’s hospice through raffles and Christmas collections. He has planned the fund-raising journey for October next year. “At the end of October the fares get cheaper. I didn’t want to pay higher prices for travel, because I want as much as possible of the money to go to CHAS.  “And if you leave it till later in the year, then you run the risk of getting some really horrendous weather. In October, the weather should still be fairly decent.” Andrew is married to Linda and has two grown-up daughters — but they can’t be convinced to join him on the walk just yet. At present, about a dozen people are signed up to take part in the walk, but to make the expedition really worthwhile he needs more than 15. With every person who takes part paying a registration fee of about £200, then hopefully raising another £2000 or more each, Andrew hopes the sponsored walk will make an average of £1500 per person.  It may sound a lot, but with a year to raise it, most people shouldn’t find it too difficult. For more information, or to sign up, you can contact Andrew by e-mail at Andrewmoncur@altavista.co.uk

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