Sue Ryder Care asks "can you match the pigeon?"
Howard Lake | 3 August 2009 | News
A new Sue Ryder Care fundraising event will take place in the Bolton Abbey Estate near Skipton, North Yorkshire on Sunday 13 September. ‘Match the Pigeon’ is a charity walk with a twist thanks to the involvement of over 50 Skipton-based racing pigeons.
People are being called upon to participate in the event to support Sue Ryder Care – Manorlands Hospice in West Yorhshire and win a helicopter flight for two over the Yorkshire Dales if they ‘Match the Pigeon’.
The pigeons, owned by members of the Skipton Homing Society will be liberated from the village of Hullavington in Wiltshire,168 miles from home at 12 noon, from where they will race back to their lofts in Skipton.
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The walkers can choose one of four routes of between 8.25 and 2 miles in the beautiful Bolton Abbey Estate before gauging their start time and pace of walking to try and cross the finish line at the same time as the first pigeon returns to its loft. The main route, which is one twentieth of the distance that the pigeons will fly, will take walkers from the Cavendish Pavilion in a loop which includes a climb to the summit of Simon’s Seat. Other routes will pass the ‘Strid’ to Barden Tower and around the Priory to the sounds of the cartoon theme tune ‘Catch the pigeon.’
Sue Ryder Care Fundraiser, Andrew Wood, is excited about the event which has Foresters as its main sponsor. “This is something that the whole family can get involved in, with everybody having an enjoyable day and an equal chance of winning the two seats in a flight of their own over the dales which has been kindly provided by Pennine Helicopters Ltd and Skipton Building Society.”
Sue Ryder Care supporter and Skipton magician Mark Waddington has already signed up to take part in the event with his family. Mark said, “How the pigeons know where to come back to seems like real magic to me but I’m told they do so at an average of 40 miles per hour so we’ll have to take this into account, though we’ll also have to look at the wind direction and speed as well in order to try and match that first pigeon home.”
Aside from raising money for the charity, the event is also symbolic of the work of Sue Ryder Care as Andrew Wood explained: “’Liberation’ is the pigeon racing term used to describe the special moment when the birds are set free to return home. As a charity that cares for people suffering from cancer and other life limiting illnesses we ‘liberate’ the lives of our patients and their families through our care, both at the hospice and in the community. Here at Manorlands Hospice we have recently launched a special 35th Anniversary Appeal to raise £1.3 million which will help us give an even greater level of care and help us liberate the lives of many more patients and their families.”
Those unable to participate on the day can support the event by sponsoring one or more of the pigeons and giving them a name of their choice, be it a nick name or even a company name by contacting the fundraising office or logging onto www.justgiving.com/matchthepigeon.
Entry into the event costs £7 and includes free parking in the Bolton Abbey Estate. People can register on line at www.matchthepigeon.org or ring the Manorlands Fundraising office for a paper entry form on 01535 640430.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.