St Edmund's
Pilgrim’s Way Sponsored Walk
This weekend a group of staff and students undertook the 14.2 mile walk from Wye to Canterbury along the Pilgrims’ Way. The aim was to raise money for the Kisiizi School in Uganda who we are supporting as part of our 275th anniversary fundraising programme.
The walk was organised by our Chaplain Joy Atkins.
My role was as pathfinder. This was not entirely straightforward in some places and I am grateful to Tom (L6) who politely corrected me when I led us off course! Mrs Shearer also accompanied the group and Dr Masterson was our Mobile Support Unit. We started at Wye station then went cross country to All Saints’ Church, Boughton Aluph, which provided shelter to pilgrims in the middle ages. That shelter would have been more useful ten minutes later when, having departed the church, we were caught in a torrential downpour. However, morale remained high through the glorious Kent countryside, even as we ascended the unpleasantly steep and winding pathway to Kings Wood. We then made our way through this beautiful, peaceful space for an hour or so heading down towards Chilham.
En route, we passed the old milestones denoting the Pilgrims’ Way and also the spot where historically travellers first caught sight of Canterbury Cathedral. The sun came out and we had lunch in Chilham square where we were joined by Mrs Burton for the second half of the walk. We then headed through fields to Chartham and picked up the Great Stour Way. This took us all the way back into Canterbury where we stopped for ice cream and a well-earned sit down!
Well done to all the pupils who took part. We were impressed by their stamina and irrepressible good humour throughout. They also raised significant funds for the Kisiizi School.
My thanks to:
Chaplain Joy Atkins
Mrs Shearer
Mrs Burton
Dr Masterson
Lev (M5)
Alexander (L5)
Finley (L5)
Jesseh (L5)
Thomas (L6)
Sanjana (L6)
Roya (L6)
Harrison (L5)
Ophelia (L5)
Lindy (U5)
