The sixth Walk Tonbridge Festival – organised by James Pavlou, founder of Walk Tonbridge and supported since its launch by CooperBurnett LLP – has raised £27,006.63 for charity this year, with £13,976.63 of this total being donated to the event’s chosen charity, the Tonbridge food bank, Sustain.
This year, the Walk Tonbridge Festival launched on Saturday 12 September with the popular Sunrise Social walk – and what a sunrise it was - and concluded on the weekend of 26/27 September with ‘Tonbridge Moments’, a photography exhibition at the Tunnel Gallery, Tonbridge School.
Over the years, the Walk Tonbridge Marathon has emerged as the flagship event of the Festival and this year it welcomed a record 240 walkers, with another 83 taking part in the five-mile Mini Marathon. Jointly organised by James and Katie Hilsdon from CooperBurnett, the event on Sunday 20 September saw participants depart from Tonbridge Baptist Church as the sun rose and finish at Tonbridge Old Fire Station (TOFS), after walking through some stunning Kent countryside.
Once again, walkers were able to pause at some pubs along the way for sustenance and encouragement, including The Kentish Rifleman, The Bell in Golden Green, The Chaser and The Poacher & Partridge.
“CooperBurnett has been a fantastic support to the Walk Tonbridge Festival since our launch and a massive part of making the Walk Tonbridge Marathon the huge event it is now,” says James Pavlou. “I couldn’t run the Festival without our supporters and they also include Tonbridge Old Fire Station (TOFS), Hilden Park Chartered Accountants, Absolute Creative Print and Mr Ames Tea, as well as friends, family and our enthusiastic volunteers!”
Sustain, which is based at Tonbridge Baptist Church, currently works with around 90 families each week and will be using the funds raised to help keep its food bank stocked with supplies. Currently, it costs around £1,700 per week to keep the Sustain larder filled with tins and fresh food – which means the amount raised from the Walk Tonbridge Festival will keep it running for an amazing eight weeks!
“The Walk Tonbridge Festival has become our largest community fundraiser of the year and, for that, we are endlessly grateful,” says Emma Lander, Community Lead at Sustain. “I know that organising the Festival and, particularly the Walk Tonbridge Marathon is a massive undertaking. We are enormously grateful to James and his team of enthusiastic volunteers and to everyone at CooperBurnett for giving up their time. It’s really wonderful to see our community come together in this way to support Sustain.”
As always, a team from CooperBurnett turned out to tackle the 26.2 mile walk around Tonbridge and its surrounding villages, with the firm represented this time by Sarah Strong – who has conquered every single Walk Tonbridge Marathon to date - June Stacey (and her daughter, Lauren), Hannah Mashford, Oliver Bussell, Katie Gillam, Joseph Oates and, honorary TeamCB member, Rachel Aaron.
Katie Hilsdon from CooperBurnett, has co-organised the Walk Tonbridge Marathon with James since its launch in 2021, when there were just 17 walkers.
“Organising what is now such a huge event is quite the challenge but it’s honestly worth every spreadsheet to learn how much has been raised for Sustain and what a positive difference those funds will make to families in Tonbridge,” says Katie. “It’s also a huge privilege to organise the event alongside James, who is such a ‘force for good’ in the Tonbridge community. We were blessed with perfect walking weather this year and it was wonderful to see the smiling faces of all our incredible walkers at the various checkpoints along the way and then at the finish line at TOFS.”
If you feel you can support Sustain, it is currently looking for donations including tinned meat, tinned fruit and tinned vegetables, as well as dry foods like pasta, biscuits and rice. These can dropped off at Tonbridge Baptist Church (TN10 3HZ), 9.00am to 4.30pm, Monday to Friday: https://www.tonbridgebaptist.church/get-involved/tn10/sustain/