On Sunday April 30th 2023, 50 dedicated supporters of Home-Start GNNL walked miles to raise funds for our fabulous cause.
Things have changed up for the Kiltwalk this year as registration costs were slashed and the top up from Sir Tom Hunter was no more (as he is supporting the event in the admin side of things!)
The reduced registration costs enabled more people to sign up to walk for Home-Start in the Glasgow Kiltwalk- from volunteers, families, staff and old friends, we all joined Slanj the bear to walk4HomeStart.
The concept of the Kiltwalk is simple – walk in tartan and support your local cause- this year 856 charities were supported by the Glasgow Kiltwalk.
Our teams were divided into the specific walks. From our connection with Barratt Homes, 12 walkers from Mov8 Estate agents walked the Mighty Stride (23 miles!) a large group of staff and volunteers walked the Big Stroll (14 miles) who were joined by a boom box for most of their walk. Slanj the bear and Gary the Dinosaur along with volunteers and families walked the Wee Wander (3 miles) which was a lot more family friendly and full of atmosphere.
On the day the heavens opened but this didn’t dampen our spirits – just made us dig deep and reminded us who we were walking for when things got rough due to wet socks or cold hands.
We were touched when Leah – a family we have worked with for many years, first as a family, now a wonderful volunteer shared her experience with us as she took part with her children.
“When we left the house yesterday with our t-shirts on someone who was doing the Kiltwalk wished us good luck. On the bus we saw 3 men and we wished each other good luck. At Queen Street the platform was full of different people going to Kiltwalk. We started chatting and it so happen that we were doing the same as others and we walked together from the train station to Loch Lomond Shores. We became family looking out for each other. After the finishing line we met them again and it was great. In the tent we were up dancing, and we knew a lot of people from different charities.
My kids were worried to start with, but they had the best time. Ethan was way ahead of us. I loved the confidence he had walking on his own chatting to others.
Thank you so much Home-Start for all your hard work. Erin and Ethan are products of your great work and support. To be where they are today is because of people like you and me who took their time to support Home-Start. Well done guys.
We stayed till 18.30 because the kids loved the band so much.
Now the kids are planning for the next years one. The way they love Home-Start it just shows that they appreciate the love and support we had from day one.”
The atmosphere of the day along with support of the whole event shines out in Leah’s experience and we couldn’t say it any better!
In addition to the Kiltwalk and our wonderful walkers we were joined by the TV personality – Laura Anderson who cheered on the Big Strollers at the start line and celebrated with the team at the finish line. She is keen to shout out about local family support charities and charities locally as she is expecting her first child. We were approached by official Kiltwalk marketing teams for a shout out on their pages and further exposure of our wonderful Home-Start charity. We can’t wait to see what this relationship will develop into.
On a final note, Slanj the bear was a great crowd attraction, and many other charities used him in their photos throughout the day. In total the team has raised just over £3,000 for HSGNNL but the relationships and memories will last a lifetime.