A JOURNEY THROUGH A LIFETIME

Over the next 25 months or so, I have decided to travel 250 miles. Overall of course, I shall be walking much further than that. Backwards and forwards to the loo in the middle of the night and things like that! But what I mean is that I have a Project in mind.

WHITSTABLE, WELWYN and WOODBRIDGE are the three places that I have spent the vast majority of my life and, for differing reasons, they have all meant a lot to me. They all still do. So my project is to retrace my life by using all three places as my main markers for the map of my journey.

At the tender age of zero, I was lucky enough to be born in WHITSTABLE. I was brought up there for the first 18 years of my life. My father's family had lived there since 1780 and I still (and always will) have a great affection for the town.

WELWYN (or more strictly, Welwyn Garden City) is where I have lived very happily with my wife and three great kids for over 30 years. And it is where I first formed my own export promotion business in the late-1980s and have been very fortunate indeed to have thoroughly enjoyed being gainfully employed by it ever since.

And finally, WOODBRIDGE. I now feel very much at home in this very friendly Elizabethan town where I can regularly spend all day on my small boat, sailing off past the unique old Tide Mill and down and around the picture-perfect Deben Estuary. Absolute bliss for me and the culmination of a lifetime’s ambition.

So life has treated me very well in that regard and I want to re-pay some of that good fortune if I possibly can. But yet again, I NEED YOUR HELP (nothing much changes then, I can hear most of you say!).

Through the use of my walking BOOTS, a BOAT or two, and a certain amount of BIKE use, I intend to complete my Journey in 5 or 10 mile stints over that 25 month period. As much as possible, I shall be using coastal, canal and riverside pathways.

It also seems eminently sensible to me that others should benefit from my intended Project/Journey. And the four Organisations that I want to assist are the DOWNS SYNDROME ASSOCIATION and the three WILDLIFE TRUSTS of Kent, Hertfordshire and Suffolk (through which, of course, my Journey will take me).

A mere SUGGESTION! 250 miles at 10p a mile amounts to the princely sum of £25. I would be eternally grateful if you could support my Project and would like to suggest that this sum is split by benefitting the DOWNS SYNDROME ASSOCIATION by £10 of your donation, with the £15 balance split evenly across the three WILDLIFE TRUSTS (£5 each).


Even more cheekily, I also intend to ask you to repeat that donation exercise again at the end of my Journey when I shall ask you again to demonstrate your generosity toward these very worthy causes. If 100 of you are charitable enough to agree to this, I would like to think that my Target amount of £4000 is very achievable.

But most of all, I really do want to keep in touch with you all - my friends, relations and colleagues spanning my 66 year lifetime (so far!). So I shall therefore be boring you silly over the next 25 months with regular updates on the progress of my Journey.

So, if you regard my project as even remotely worthwhile, please/please/please donate your amount through this JustGiving account.

And, oh yes! Please feel entirely free to forward this message on to any of your friends...in fact, all of them!

Very many thanks indeed to you. And I look forward to being back in contact with you again very soon with news of my progress.

My very best, Peter

PETER NICHOLLS
Mobile: +44-(0)780-371-3685
Email: peternicholls@msn.com