Martin Sayer
The Martin Sayer Five Marathons Southend on Sea,Pier Walk for the RNLI
Fundraising for RNLI - Royal National Lifeboat Institution
Story
Since early March I've been 'training' on the quiet and have walked the equivalent of London to John O'Groats (685 miles).
If you know me you might find that incredulous but it's true so please read on!
From the 29th June, (a month today), to 3rd July inclusive ,I am going to try and attempt to be the 1st person ever to walk the length of Southend Pier, (the longest pleasure pier in the World), a hundred times. That's a distance of 134 miles or if you prefer 214.4 kilometers.
Starting 8.30 each morning for 5 days, my goal is 20 lengths of the pier a day which equates to 26.8 miles/42.9k.
I estimate that each day's walking will take between 7hrs and 7 3/4 hrs subject to weather conditions and the state of my feet!
Why bother?
On a cold wet February afternoon I re-watched the Gandhi Film.
In 1930 he walked 240 miles in 24 days as a protest against the British Government and their monopoly of the 'salt market' in India. He was, as we all now know ,eventually successful (1947) and gained Independence for India from The Mighty British Empire.
The same night I watched the film I saw the news and it greatly upset me seeing innocent people being beheaded/murdered for no other reason than they were of a different religion/culture or were just simply 'foreigners'. This now seems to have 'progressed' or 'extended' to those of a different sexuality.
As always in my life, I decided to turn a negative into a positive. I made up my mind 'then and there' I wanted to do a walk like Gandhi,but only to raise money for Charity not to protest against anything.
But maybe this is an opportunity to remind people there are better ways of getting your point across without having to kill others,and bringing people's attention to the fact the most successful 'protestors' of 20th Century were Gandhi,Luther King and Mandela all of whom happened to be pacifists.
The two Charities I have chosen are:
The British Red Cross,who are always there wherever they are needed, helping others whether it as a result of a natural disaster or a conflict.They continually put their own lives at risk for the benefit of others.
Royal National Lifeboat Institute, who are not Government Funded but need to raise £145m a year in order to provide a service around our Island and, on average rescue 22 people a day,again at their own personal risk.
Hopefully YOU will 'share it' with all your friends on Facebook and the donations will increase. I might be doing the walking but's let's work as a team.
Thank you so much for reading this and remember - Good people give generously to good causes!
Thanks.
Martin.
ps. If you can think of anyway you can help please email. martin@4leggedfriends.com