The history of our challenge walks in words and pictures
Up to date financial details and other information about our fundraising activities
Annual financial details of the totals raised from our Walkers and Corporate Sponsors
Information about The Three Peaks Challenge Walk and the surrounding countryside
Information about The Chatsworth Challenge Walk, and the Chatsworth area.
Preparation, Hints & Tips
Handy tips and sound advice for tackling those demanding challenge walks
Some interesting features associated with our walks
Information about us and why we raise the sponsored funds
All the other bits we couldn’t fit in anywhere else
chatsworth challenge
chatsworthchallenge.com
three peaks
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chatsworthchallenge.com and threepeakschallenge.com are organisers of sponsored challenge walks to raise money for the Dave Owens and Frank Goodall Memorial Fund in support of nominated charities to fund cancer research, prevention, and treatment.
Total funds raised so far
£197,708.98
including... ThreePeaksChallenge
The four charities we currently represent. All of the money raised on our walks go to the four listed cancer charities to fund the research, prev-ention, and treatment of cancer.
More information >>
2018 Walk : Chatsworth Challenge
chatsworthchallenge.com are organisers of fund raising challenge walks in support of the Dave Owens and Frank Goodall Memorial Fund to raise monies for nominated charities in support of cancer research, prevention, and treatment.
Page Acknowledgements
Text : Philip Lynskey : Gerard Mitchell
Images : Philip Lynskey: Gerard Mitchell:
Pekingese image by Kaz (Pixabay) Pug Image by Charles Deluvio
© www.chatsworthchallenge.com
amount raised to date after current walk year
Each year we donate specific allocations to the charities we support from the total funds raised from the annual sponsored walk.
This is currently 30% to each of the three main cancer charities, and 10% to the Oesophageal Patients Association.
Julie’s Chatsworth Cake !
After fifteen previous walks we don’t encounter too many novel experiences. However, 2018 threw one up in the form of a man’s walking boot novelty cake (size sixteen at least).
The cake was made from scratch by one of this year’s new walkers, Julie Dent, and the subsequent raffle raised an excellent £72-00 for the fund. Julie is a dab-hand at this type of cake-making and our Wednesday cycling club rides often benefit from Julie’s over-catering. Well done Julie.
The raffle was won by Nicola Anderson who assures me that the cake went down a treat.
Walking boot cake made by Julie Dent which raised £72,00 (click to enlarge)
Saturday 12th May 2018, and our valued sponsored walkers took part in our twin 16th annual fundraising walk in and around Chatsworth House in the Derbyshire Peak District. This years event raised another excellent amount of £8,015.55, which now takes the accumulated total for all our walks from our first walk in 2003 to £183,264.35. That’s an average of £11,454.00 per year! All fundraising, as always goes to the Dave Owens and Frank Goodall Memorial Fund, and as with every other year, every penny of the sponsorship money raised in our walks is donated to our four nominated cancer charities.
As in previous years our trusty reporter, scribbler, columnist, correspondent, call him what you will, Gerard Mitchell takes to the keyboard again to give you a brief account of the day’s events.
If anyone out there in fancies having a go at writing up the days events, and making an interesting column from a photo of a tree and some sheep please let us know. Gerard has done an admirable job of conveying the affairs of the day over many years, but we will be only too happy to hand the reins over to any budding reporter who will have absolute carte blanche to deliver a searing and epic roller-coaster of a column about more sheep and trees! The next Jeffrey Archer, or J. K. Rowling (we are a wholly gender equality organisation here at Chatsworth Challenge) may be out there, and waiting!
However, in the meantime, Gerard brings you all the interesting bits of our 2018 sponsored fundraising walk... (PL)
4. Time for a brief rest in Beeley Woods (click to enlarge)
5. The Generation Game. Mark, Nigel, and Jake line up for photographs during their walk. (click to enlarge)
6. Are we lost? A bit of a pile up in the Chatsworth Horse Trials. (click to enlarge)
7. Tim with Tilly at Beeley (click to enlarge)
3. Ewe with a couple of Lambs under a tree (click to enlarge)
3. Tree with Sheep
It wouldn’t be a spring day out on the Chatsworth Estate without the sight of a ewe with a couple of young lambs and this year was no different. (You see... that’s how it’s done. Simple, direct, and straight to the point. Strong grammatical subject; no superfluous and unnecessary adjectives; Tree and sheep, full stop. If anyone can do better please submit 100 words describing a tree and sheep for consideration - Ed.)
4. Gathering In The Woods
After the slog up through Beeley Woods this group are enjoying a well-earned rest. With hands on hips and cap turned backwards it looks as though Darren’s earlier bust from the blocks may have taken its toll. Does anyone present know what form of calamity may have overtaken Andy? Julie has taken pride of place on the rock and looks to be catching up on her latest Agatha Christie. It’s good to see the Steele family all pitching in too.
5. Mark, Nigel & Jake
It’s good to see three generations, Nigel, Jake & Mick taking the time out for a walk in the countryside together. Nigel (our top 2018 fundraiser by some distance) has taken part in our walks on quite a few occasions while this is only Jake and Mick’s second outing. It’s good to see all three of you again.
6. The Chatsworth Horse Trials
Once again the 2018 walk coincides with the Chatsworth Horse Trials. As this photo illustrates it’s not all about cross-country and dressage as there is a fun side to the event too. It is very easy to imagine that this category of entrants will get just as much out of the weekend as their more illustrious counterparts. (I would have bet my house on a ‘pony and trap joke’ - Ed)
7. Tim with Tilly
Here at Beeley we see six week old Tilly with proud dad Tim. Make the most of it Tim; she’ll be giving you back-chat before you know it. (Tim shows off the male art of multi-tasking - Ed)
The Year of the Dogs... Seeing as there are a number of dogs on ‘show’ this year (and because I’ve got some spare space on the page), I thought it might be interesting to recognise ‘Mans Best Friends’ who accompany our walkers on the sponsored walks. (or Women's Best Friends; remember, we are a wholly gender equality conscious lot here at Chatsworth Challenge!).
And where better to start than Crufts, the Biggest Dog Show on Earth. (not necessary factual). Crufts was named after its founder, Charles Cruft, the General Manager of a
dog biscuit manufacturer, who wanted to understand the need for higher standards for dog shows. The first Crufts dog event in 1886 was called the ‘First Great Terrier Show, and continued annually (except for a short break for the First World War) until Charles’ death in 1928. It continued a further four years under the stewardship of his widow, who, due to the demands of running the annual event, sold the show to The Kennel Club in 1942. The Kennel Club gradually broadened the categories for dogs competing in the show, and its increasing popularity demanded several changes of venue before reaching its current location at the NEC, Birmingham.
The Kennel Club set criteria, and standards for competing dogs to determine the appearance and nature of the respective breeds. A champion ‘purebred’ cocker spaniel is therefore deemed to be a champion in its individual category if it looks more like a cocker spaniel than another cocker spaniel, or if a whippet looks more like a whippet than any other whippet in show, or if a schnauzer has more schnauzer about it than any other schnauzer!
1. The 22 Mile Walkers before setting off
Our trusty sheep and trees correspondent - Gerard Mitchell
1. The 22 mile sponsored walkers (and a dog) take part in the usual team photo before setting off. (click to enlarge)
2. The 9 Milers line up for their team photograph
(click to enlarge)
However Darren and Mark look as though they are bursting to get out of the starting blocks and make their time up. It’s good to see a blend of age and youth within the group as this always makes for a good day. Young Oscar Firmin has the same sulky look on his face he’s had all morning. It appeared soon after he realised he wasn’t the youngest participant this year as Tilly Anderson, at six weeks, had taken over that role. There is also an excellent canine presence on show which also always makes for a good day’s walking.
usual blend of faces old and new, and a quick count confirms that there is over 125 ‘caps’ in this year’s starting line-up.
After completing the nine mile walk last year two year old Jess the Dog is now deemed old enough to make her debut in the twenty two mile stakes. (Jess actually probably covered fifty odd miles on the day). The weather forecast is set fair and it looks like good weather for taking on the twenty two mile challenge.
2. The 9 mile walkers ‘start line’
The time has now progressed to 11-16 so the nine mile walk is slightly late in setting off.
It’s 05-55 on a fine May morning. Boots have been laced and re-laced, lunch packs have been checked, trips to the toilets have been made, and the start is almost upon us. There’s the
Your challenge is to turn up, have a great day out, and raise valuable funds in support of our supported cancer charities
Our challenge walks are an annual event over 9 miles or 22 miles in the beautiful countryside around Chatsworth House in Derbyshire. It is open to anyone who wishes to join us. All we require is that you raise sponsorship for our charities, or alternatively pay a £5.00 entry fee if you don’t feel that you can raise sponsor money. Can you take the challenge?
Follow these links to the other areas associated with this page
The owners can achieve excellence in their chosen category of course by selectively breeding the animals to achieve the desired characteristics. For example, two Pekingese with unusually cute little snouts, can be mated to produce a cute little offspring with an even cuter and shorter snout. By continually breeding the offspring with cute little short snouts the resulting animal can end up with the cutest shortest snout in show.
The newly crowned short muzzled animal is hence able to walk away with the prize of ‘Best in Breed’; all whilst wheezing, coughing and gasping as it desperately tries to breathe when huffing and puffing
Pug. (by Charles Deluvio - see page acknow-ledgements) (click to enlarge)
its way from the victory parade! As well as walking away with a victory garland, and a big cup for their owner’s mantelpiece, the winning purebred dogs can also look forward to a life plagued by a frightening array of painful diseases, and numerous congenital health conditions. It is for these reasons that Crufts is often targeted by animal rights activists, and also why the BBC dropped the show from it’s programming schedule after the 2008 event.
Perhaps Crufts ought to re-specify their categories for dog breeds so that the winner could be a bulldog who has a more chronic respiratory problem than another heavy breathing, wheezing bulldog, or a pug who has more dangerously bulging eyes than another protruding goggle-eyed pug, or a German shepherd with a more serious and chronic condition of hip dysplasia than any other lop-sided limping German shepherd.
Whether or not the Kennel Club’s idea of standards match those of Charles Cruft’s original intentions for higher standards for dog shows is a questionable issue! (Phil Lynskey)
A cute short nosed Pekingese (By Kaz - Pixabay - see page acknowledgements) (click to enlarge)
10. Smiles on the faces of walkers who have completed the walk. (click to enlarge)
11. More smiles on more faces of walkers who have completed the walk. (click to enlarge)
8. Andy & Darren at the Warren
It seems to be turning into the Darren Road Show but whatever he has in that bottle seems to be keeping him in high spirits. Speaking of high spirits, Andy seems to have shaken off whatever malady had befallen him in Beeley Woods. Behind Darren, Emma looks to be setting a decent pace across the moor, as will Vanessa and Sharon once they have safely negotiated the stile.
9. My Lot at Beeley
Back at The Devonshire Arms in Beeley we have two Mitchells and two Firmins taking refreshments. Oscar looks totally under-whelmed by the occasion but Janine, Clare and Stella know that the next section of the walk is the hardest; the hill up through Beeley Woods.
10. Lunch at Baslow Checkout
Back in Baslow and its all smiles from these familiar faces as they have now completed the walk and enjoyed a spot of lunch.
It’s the first time we’ve mentioned Mark today but by the look of those ‘Jazz Hands’ his daughter isn’t the only member of the family who goes to dancing class each weekend. Get a grip Mark.
11. Drinks at Baslow Checkout
More smiles at the check-out now that all the walking has been walked. Martin and Simon have managed to get themselves into this photo and look pleased with their day’s efforts. Included in Simon’s ‘day’s efforts’ was carrying Oscar, in a back-pack, around the nine mile walk. At two years and two months I’m not sure what Oscar will be weighing-in at but I’m sure Simon must have been glad to get back to Baslow. Well done Simon. (Gerard Mitchell)
8. Andy & Warren have time for a laugh! (click to enlarge)
9. ♫ ♫ Da da da dah (click click) - Da da da dah (click click) - Da da da dah - Da da da dah - Da da da dah (click click) - They’re creepy and they’re kooky - Mysterious and spooky - They’re all together loopy - The Mitchell family...
They never stop their talking - Not even when they’re walking - Except for when they’re boozing - The Mitchell family ♫ ♫ Stella, Clare, and Janine watch young Oscar in training for his yard of ale drinking contest in the under three year olds division (click to enlarge)
From Our Charities - 2018
Comments from the Charity Organisations we support
Below is a collection of just some of the many kind comments we have received from the recipient charities we support through the Dave Owens and Frank Goodall Memorial Fund. The value of every participant’s work in raising monies for the fund can be readily seen in their thanks.
Copies of all letters we receive from the charities can be seen on our Downloads Page >
Thank you for your very generous donation of £2,404.66. The generosity of supporters like you and the people who take part in your fantastic event for the Dave Owens and Frank Goodall Memorial Fund enables Cancer Research UK to lead the world in discovering newer, kinder treatments and get closer to cures.
Simon O'Leary
Head of Fundraising
23 August 2018
Thank you so much for raising a fantastic sum of £2,404.66 for Macmillan Support from your Chatsworth Challenge Walk. We hope that you enjoyed it, and that you will pass our thanks on to everyone who helped to make it a success. Your effort and enthusiasm will help us to be there for people affected by cancer and their families, and help them feel more in control of their lives
Zoe Kelidou
SupporterDonations Team
24 August 2018
Thank you so much again for organising another fabulous Chatsworth Challenge, this time raising £,2404.66 for Marie Curie as part of the Dave Owens and Frank Goodall Memorial Fund which is such an incredible amount to us
Nikki Ayrton
Community Fundraiser
10 August 2018
Oesophageal Patients Assc.
We are writing to express our sincere thanks for yet another donation we have received from you and your team. We were so pleased to have received a massive £801.57. Thank you so very much
Maggie Robinson
OPA
14 August 2018