Eglinton village walk for Ukraine next Saturday

The group say it will be a great opportunity for the whole village to come together, raise money and to support the people of Ukraine

Allan Bogle from Eglinton Annual Show said: “During the pandemic, Eglinton Annual Show was cancelled so we had to come up with a different idea for it. We had very successful trails and walks and getting people to explore the village and the most successful was the scarecrow walk which will now be an annual event. People had been asking what we were going to do for Easter this year but we thought it would be more appropriate to do something to show support for the people of Ukraine and raise some money too.

“The walk itself is a continuous walk from 10 am to 5pm on Saturday, April 2. The walk is a ‘loop’ 1.2KM long and people can join in at any time they like and they can do as many loops as they would like. It starts at Eglinton Primary School and there’s parking at the school, at the cricket club and the community centre. There’s a local gym, The Unit in Campsie, doing 12 continuous hours so they will have three to four people each hour for 12 hours.

“I would never say this is like what is going on in Ukraine but I think, particularly for the young people in the village, it symbolises some of the struggles that are going on. It’s not just going for a walk and going home, my daughters primary 5 class, for example, are organising a relay team and making their own batons and things.

“We’re asking people for a suggested donation of £5 per loop. So a family of five would put £5 but they can donate more if they like. Some people have said they want to walk at 10am and come back and do another one at 5pm and that’s perfectly okay too.

“For people who want to get involved, we have a registration on our Facebook page, Eglinton Trails. It’s not essential but it gives us an idea of how many people will be there and at what times. If there’s a particularly busy time, we’ll need more volunteers. We have a JustGiving page for people who would like to make a donation but not do the walk and we’ll also have buckets for donations on the day. We hope to have a running total online throughout the day too so people can keep an eye on that.

“There’s no time limit or racing, people can walk, run or bring the dog and the pram. From eight months to 80 years, it’s open to everybody.”