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A History of the Coastal Walk

Developments

In 1987 we attracted about 300 participants and the pasting table was replaced by more substantial 'furniture', courtesy of the Mersey Ferries Catering Department. Over the years that followed we became more professional in our approach and, with ever increasing patronage, operational changes had to be made. The Wirral Coastal Walk was moved from Autumn to late Spring each year; the Leasowe Check Point was abandoned because of congestion in the vicinity and difficulty in getting supplies to the site. The promenade at the junction with Harrison Drive became the site of the first Check Point for a while, before finally being moved to the present location, on the embankment in the vicinity of the recently built 'hostelry' known as 'The Derby Pool'. Here vehicular access is good and there is an ample supply of fresh water. With the ever increasing quantities of water required for diluting concentrated fruit juice, provision of fresh water to the check points became a bit of a 'headache'. For signing off the walkers at Thurstaston, no longer could a small tent suffice for protection from the elements so a small Marquee had to be hired and erected. Again, because of increasing numbers and of facilities required at the finish, the "small" marquee became a "big one."

Perhaps the booking and registration procedures have been modified more than anything else during the past 20 years. Pre-booking and provision of official, consecutively numbered, sponsor forms were introduced, with requests for forms made to a member of the Coastal Walk Committee by telephone who recorded and delivered all literature to the prospective walker or organisation's group leader by post. Later three members of committee had to share this task until it was realised that professional help was required to handle the hundreds of enquiries being received during the three months prior to the date of the Walk. 'Serve Wirral Training', an organisation based in Wallasey, where young people were trained in various skills, such as information and computer technology, agreed to handle the ever increasing workload, previously attended to 'in house'.

‘SWT’ took all telephone and postal ‘orders’, sending out packs of forms, leaflets, letters, etc. and provided a complete computer print out for the Club. Unfortunately, early in 2003 ‘SWT’ ceased trading but we were most fortunate in obtaining the services, at rather short notice, of the Bebington CVS who have provided this most important administration assistance for the past three years. Last May (2005) the final print out contained over 1,070 entries, indicating the names, addresses, telephone numbers, charity supported, reference numbers of sponsor forms issued, dates of issue and postal charges incurred for each transaction. They sent out 11,900 sponsor forms, which was in addition to forms issued by members to friends and acquaintances. In addition to reimbursing BCVS for costs incurred, the Club have made substantial donations each year to this organisation in recognition of the excellent help received.

The single Registration position had to be supplemented until we now have to provide up to 10 tables for registration purposes, staffed by 20 members, wives and friends, over a three hour period. This, in addition to an Enquiry Desk and Information Section. To minimise congestion at Seacombe, staggered starting times (from 10.00 am . To 11.30 am ) had to be introduced, with an attempt to get the younger walkers and the handicapped off to an early start, leaving the more experienced 'till later. Unfortunately some of the 'fast' walkers, especially 'runners', 'sneaked off early and in consequence arrived at Thurstaston before we had anyone available to sign them off. This has now been remedied.

All Rotarians, etc. involved at the start have to disperse and take up afternoon duties at one of the Control Points, the Signing Off 'desks' at the finish, or to attend to general marshalling duties, control of vehicular traffic, etc. Transporting tables, fruit juice, plastic cups and other equipment to and from the various sites, is a major job undertaken by 'O.C.' Transport and his team. Organising the additional car park at Thurstaston, coupled with erection of direction signs and notices is another job that has to be attended to from early morning. For some of us, our day starts at about 8.00am . and, if lucky, we can be relaxing back home with a gin and tonic by 7.30pm .

 All participants submit a Registration Slip at the start, have their sponsor forms stamped and, on completing the Walk at Thurstaston (or one of the Check Points), their forms are signed and stamped again and a certificate is issued. From information supplied on the slips we are able to calculate the probable total amount of money pledged by sponsors to charity/good causes. We estimate that last May (2005) about 340 charities and other good causes benefited directly from the Walk which provided the opportunity for a total amount of over £300,000 to be raised. Since 1987 (we ignore 1986), we reckon we have been instrumental in getting approximately £2,825,000 distributed to charitable and other good causes.

We have considered making prospective participants pay their entrance fees in advance in order that we would have a more accurate assessment of numbers likely to be taking part and what resources would be required. Attractive as it seemed, we felt it would be counter productive (and costly), and with experience, we have usually managed to arrive at a reasonable estimate of probable patronage. The weather has a great influence and, if fine, we can expect many hundreds of uncommitted walkers turning up on the day, for which we must have an ample supply of spare sponsor forms. For example, at the last event we had 4,600 registered participants and a further number of non registered! non sponsored walkers, bringing the total taking part at over 5,000

The Wirral Coastal Walk main sponsor for 2008 is

There are also many other organisations that help out. You can visit our links page to find out more, or click on any of the logo's in this margin to visit some of our sponsors and helpers...

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