IN MATTHEW’S MEMORY
A circular trail in Buckinghamshire which has helped to raise over £10,000 for children’s specialist care has marked its 20th anniversary with an emotional group walk.
Matthew’s Way was set up to commemorate 11-month-old Matthew Lane from North Marston, who died from complications following heart surgery in 1996. His parents Trevor and Cathy set up the trail a year later, and ever since then they have handed over the proceeds from the trail guidebook to Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Aylesbury, where Matthew was treated. The trail is now marked on OS maps.
To mark 20 years of the trail, Trevor and Cathy led 130 walkers along the 10km trail, which connects the villages of North Marston and Quainton.
“Both of us are keen walkers and originally we wanted to plant a tree in our area,” explains Trevor.
“But then came the idea of the route. We wanted something that people could walk that would encourage them to find out something about Matthew’s story.
“The route is our way of us keeping his memory alive. I walk it two or three times a year in its entirety but we spend a lot of time maintaining it and making sure it’s not overgrown. And there are now 11 trees in his memory along the course of it.” To order a copy of the guidebook, email Trevor at