Belvedere funeral arranger to walk 200 miles for CRUK

A funeral arranger from Belvedere is walking 200 miles across March for ‘Walk All Over Cancer by Cancer Research’, doubling the challenge’s requirements.

 Kelly Smith from Ashdown Funeral Services is fundraising in memory of her brother Leo, who passed away due to liver cancer in 2016.

She said she has changed her daily life by walking to and from work, taking one hour and 15 minutes each way, and has been walking to see colleagues and friends instead of calling them, to reach her personal target.

 She said: “I walk a lot in my day-to-day life so I thought 10,000 steps wouldn’t be challenging enough for me. I’ve therefore pushed myself to walk roughly 20,000 steps per day to reach 200 miles across March in total and have actually exceeded that number of steps nearly every day so far.”

Funeral Partners’ Bexley Hub manager Tracey Still suggested Walk All Over Cancer to local branches after being “inspired by her close friends Julie Still and Cherrie Tadman, who passed away due to breast cancer in 2012 and 2013 respectively”.

 Still and Smith created a Cancer Research fundraising team after Clare Cornwall and Jade Walker, Funeral Arrangers at Ashdown’s Sidcup and Bexley branches respectively, joined the challenge.

 The team has so far raised a total of £575 from their fundraising pages and sponsor forms. Still said: “We’ve all changed our daily lives in different ways to meet the goal. Clare and Jade have been taking their dogs for longer walks and until recently, I’ve been using the stairs more to speak to staff rather than dialing internally.”

 Lynn Daly, spokeswoman for Cancer Research UK in Kent, said: “It’s brilliant that Kelly has not only taken up the ‘Walk All Over Cancer’ challenge – but doubled it! And we’re thankful to her colleagues for joining in too.

 “Every step they take will help us get one step closer to beating all 200 types of cancer, with more effective and kinder treatments.”