Roll back time for charity walk
STOCKPORT’S version of the Calendar Girls are set to make a comeback - this time dressed in stylish 70s clothes!
Members of Cheadle and Gatley Women’s Institute will be donning their fashionable flares and florals for the Manchester Virtual Walk, organised by St Ann’s Hospice.
The charity, which opened its doors to patients for the first time in May 1971, is encouraging participants in its annual 10km walk in May to adopt a 70s theme marking the decade and celebrating its special birthday.
An invitation the local WI has readily accepted, after 15 members sported a Calendar Girls theme last year, raising £1,200 in sponsorship for the hospice in the process.
Member Sandra Rycroft said: “We decorated our t-shirts and wore pearl necklaces, but didn’t think it appropriate to be walking round Cheadle with no tops on like in the film!”
Sandra, from Cheadle, is a sewing enthusiast and repairs dresses donated to St Ann’s wedding shop, one of several voluntary roles she undertakes for the hospice. Friend Adela Wilson, from Cheadle Hulme, has helped her make 1,000 bandanas for participants in the walk which can be done when and how people like.
The distance can be completed at once, or split over days.
Organisers say participants can walk, skip, run, hop or cover the distance however they wish.
Sandra has been volunteering for more than eight years since losing her husband Alan and her mother-in-law Margaret Rycroft, a patient at St Ann’s.
Sandra, who worked at Cheadle Medical Practice, said: “Volunteering gives me a sense of purpose now that I’m retired and I feel as though I’m making a difference.”
To sponsor the WI visit www.mmwalk.org.uk/ fundraising/the-calender-girls-2021
To sign up for the walk go to www.mmwalk.org. uk or call St Ann’s on 0161 498 3631.