Three-year walk for RNLI raises £68.5k so far
Melanie May | 16 November 2017 | News
Fundraiser Alex Ellis-Roswell has finished a three-year walk around the coastline of the UK and Ireland for the RNLI, having raised £68.5k to date.
Ellis-Roswell started the walk in memory of his late father on 3 August 2014 with an aim to raise as much money as possible for the RNLI. During his walk, he slept in the tent he carried with him or relied on the kindness of strangers, often being put up by lifeboat crew or people who met him along the way.
His travels took him clockwise around Britain and Ireland starting and finished at Minnis Bay in Kent, and including the Isle of Man, and the Western and Northern Isles. He has been chased by bulls, met Princess Anne, and slept in church doorways, sheep sheds and bird hides, while also visiting over 200 lifeboat stations.
His initial fundraising target was £10,000 in honour of his father Sir Raymond Ellis who had spent much of his life dedicated to charity work and fundraising before falling ill. Ellis-Roswell now has a fundraising target of £95,000, which would represent £10 for every mile he has walked. At the end of his walk he had raised £62k and the figure is still rising.
Ellis-Roswell said:
“My dad’s ultimate stubbornness against what seemed to be a never ending cycle of illness, pain, operations and setbacks will always be a very personal inspiration to me. I started off thinking about £10,000 then £20,000 then £50,000. I suppose reaching this target shows how well supported the RNLI is by the people, places and communities I’ve walked through, especially when for many people money is tight.”
Main image: Walker Alex Ellis-Roswell. Credit: RNLI
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About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.