Paul and Marian Davies set off to walk the Masonic halls of West Lancashire. During the walk, they managed to call at all 44 halls in the Province during the 84 days of the walk.
The walk was in aid of Alzheimer’s and Dementia, which had sadly affected several family members and a member of Heber Lodge No 4388 who was being supported and looked after in a nursing home, regularly visited by members of the lodge and who sadly passed away not long after the start of the walk. This made it especially important to complete the challenge after Paul, along with 3 other brethren from Heber Lodge, carried his coffin into the funeral service.
Paul and Marian visited 44 halls and walked 151 miles (plus a few more when they lost their way and went round in circles). The support from family, friends and Heber Lodge brethren was really appreciated, in addition to the WhatsApp group which really encouraged them to take on the challenge. On the first day John Selley met them at Ulverston where they dropped off their car, with John then taking them to Barrow to start the walk, where a coffee based welcome and hall tour was awaiting! With the walk started, Paul and Marian aimed to walk one or two days a week to get the walk completed.
There were many highlights along the way, with the most splendid being the fact that Marian, who turned 70 on the walk from Lancaster to Garstang. The walk from Newby Bridge to Grange was scary as the route took them along a busy dual carriage way, with just a grass verge and lorries thundering past at speed.
There were many lovely halls to see but one of the highlights was Warrington and its museum, which was really interesting and well worth a visit. Whilst leaving Preston en-route for Hutton, Paul, an avid pork pie connoisseur, spotted a shop called ‘Paul’s Pies’, so of course it would have been frightfully rude if they hadn’t tried one!
Paul and Marian finally finished on a Saturday morning with a short walk from Pemberton to Bryn. Their WM joined them and as they got to Bryn, there were others to meet them with a welcome cup of tea and chocolate biscuits, making it all worthwhile. Paul and Marian raised in total £2,274 from a magnificent effort!!