Team Sarcoma UK 2008

The Peak District

Team Sarcoma UK 2008

The second ever Team Sarcoma UK event took place on 11-14^th July, based at the Moorside Grange Hotel in the Peak District.

57 people participated in various parts of the weekend - some who attended last year’s event in Torquay, as well as many new faces. Those who came included sarcoma patients, their friends and family of all ages, and staff from the Christie Hospital in nearby Manchester.

This year’s programme included a trip to Chatsworth House on the Saturday, which allowed those that were interested to explore the house and gardens. This was followed by a visit to the spa town of Buxton, where we were lucky enough to coincide with their annual Carnival. We were entertained by the many floats and bands parading through the town.

The main part of the weekend - the walk - took place on Sunday, which (thankfully!) turned out to be a dry and sunny day. What a contrast with 2007

 The 28 people tackling the full walk set out from the hotel on a 4-mile cross-country route into the National Trust’s Lyme Park. The final section of this walk took us uphill to The Cage, an imposing18th-century hunting tower, where we paused to enjoy stunning views across the Peak District and down into Manchester, before descending towards the main hall and gardens. These famously featured in the BBC’s Pride and Prejudice.

Here we met up with the rest of the walkers (who had come by coach) to enjoy lunch and a group photo opportunity, before setting out again for the second 4 miles.

This took us through Lyme Park and down along the towpath of the Macclesfield Canal, before returning up the hill to the car park to stagger onto the coach.

The event has been a great source of fundraising for The Sarcoma Trust, with over £2,650 raised in sponsorship received by the Trust so far.

For those who stayed at the hotel over the weekend, it was also a fun social event with everyone meeting up over dinner each night to chat and take part in some very challenging quizzes!

The weekend presented a great opportunity for participants to catch up with old friends, put names to faces, and to make new friends among those affected by sarcoma – sometimes for the very first time.

Special thanks go to Peter Jay (who did most of the planning); Nicky Mellows (who accompanied him piloting the walks); Shirley and Barry Collings for the quiz and goodie-bag prizes;

Shirley for her ribbons – now officially known as “shirls” - and also arranging sponsorship of the bottled water by CostCo; Lesley, Michael and Jessica Abraham for organising the raffle and prizes, and Michael for the badges: Di Oliver for her donation of prints and cards as prizes;

Brian Lewis for developing and managing the Team Sarcoma website;  Emily Orford, the head warden of National Trust Lyme Park for permission to use the Park for our walk; Dean Brookfield and his colleague Brian who drove the coaches; and the staff of the Moorside Grange Hotel.

More Pictures Can be Found Here

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