When Judith passed away in 2023, following her battle with a glioblastoma, we lost a remarkable mum, mum-in-law, grannie and friend. We now want to do something fitting in Judith’s memory, and to raise money for some special charities.

As all her great many friends know, Judith had an incredible array of hobbies and passions, but two that will always stand out are walking and trips to the Lake District. We deeply cherish the memories of walking trips with Judith providing the knowledge, navigation, tales and humour, whether it be on weeks up in the Langdale valley, or just a stroll somewhere nearer to home.

Inspired by these treasured memories, we had the (not so!) bright idea of Tom walking from Sheffield to Chapel Stile in the Lake District as being something near an appropriate tribute. Hopefully Judith would have found this mildly impressive, and there’s little doubt she’d have found the idea of Tom trying to do this on his own hilarious.

Thankfully, Tom’s brother Matthew has agreed to join the walk too. Whilst studying Wainwrights for the next decade wouldn’t get us anywhere near Judith’s level of expertise, Matt should at least be able to provide us with some vague idea of which way to go!

Tom and Matt will be setting off from St Luke’s hospice in Sheffield on Tuesday 20 May and walking the 120 odd miles over the next 6 days, arriving in Chapel Stile in the Lake District on Sunday 25 May. As well as the starting and finishing points being particularly appropriate, the route will take in West and North Yorkshire, which were also important places in Judith’s life.

In exchange for blisters and shoe leather, we’re raising money for St Luke’s hospice in Sheffield and Brain Tumour Research.

Judith spent her last few days at St Luke’s. St Luke’s mission is to deliver the best possible palliative care in Sheffield, whilst developing and driving continual improvements for everyone affected by terminal illness. All services provided by the hospice are free, and fundraising is essential to their brilliant work. The environment, facilities and care at St Luke’s allowed Judith to live with the dignity and love that she basically trademarked, right until the end.

Judith was diagnosed with Glioblastoma in 2022. Glioblastoma is a, so far, incurable form of brain cancer. The average survival time is devastatingly short – just 12-18 months. Brain Tumour Research are funding research across all their centres of excellence. This work will help lead towards finding a cure. This includes pioneering research at the Brain Tumour Research Centre of Excellence at Queen Mary University of London that is focused on using GBM stem cells to help develop unique, patient-specific treatments.

Anything you can spare for these amazing charities would be appreciated so much.

Lots of love

Emily, Tom and Matt