5:11pm Friday 10th July 2009
By Fran Bardsley
IF YOU spot a trail of hundreds of people purposefully striding through Oxford city centre in the dead of night this weekend, don’t be alarmed.
For the third time, Sobell House hospice — which cares for people in Oxfordshire with life-limiting illnesses, is organising a Moonlight Stroll through the city.
A record 1,150 people have signed up to take part in the eight-mile walk tomorrow, many of whom have personal experience of the hospice’s work.
Among them will be former BBC and current Jack FM presenter Ali Booker, who will be pushed along in a wheelchair by husband Andrew Chapman.
Mrs Booker, who was diagnosed with breast cancer seven years ago, has been receiving care from the hospice for the past 18 months and has so far raised £1,000 in sponsorship.
She said: “Sobell House provides such an incredibly important service, not only to people with terminal illnesses, but also their families.”
The mother-of-two, who is 46 and lives in Wantage, said: “I am looking forward to it. I understand the course will be lined with people and entertainment and they will take us round some of the most beautiful parts of Oxford.”
It costs £3.2m to run Sobell House each year, with £1.2m being raised by the charity and the rest coming from the NHS.
In its first year, the Moonlight Stroll raised £70,000, rising to £92,000 last year.
Fundraiser Kevin Game said they hoped to break £100,000 this year.
He said: “We originally wanted to get a thousand walkers, then we raised it to 1,100.
“But we were still getting people phoning up pleading for places so we extended it.”
The walk starts at 10.30pm at St Edward’s School in Woodstock Road.
The first walkers are expected back there after two hours, with the last trickle coming through at about 2am.
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