Our story…

The Royal Parks were special to Marie. After moving from Manchester to London, Marie and Rob lived near to Kensington Gardens for four years. They walked most days in Hyde Park, and later joined by baby Ava (Bear!), the daily walk in the park became a fixture - adding mummy & baby classes in the park, making and meeting friends, family picnics and grabbing the daily coffee. 

During those early years of being in London, she had many a happy moment across its parks: enjoying the roses in Regent's Park, the picnics next to Buckingham Palace in Green Park, meeting Rob from work in St James’s Park, travelling up the river for the view from Greenwich Park, being heavily pregnant & watching the fireworks in Primrose Hill. 

Then the family grew with Harry (Bear) and they moved to Chiswick. But the love of a brisk walk continued, now with Richmond Park on the doorstep and Bushy Park similarly close. Margot (Bear…!) joined our lives through the strangest of periods (2020) but as soon as they could the family were back to walking around Richmond Park. 

The Royal Parks became a fixture of Marie’s life in London. We know she would have been delighted to be sharing the walk with you on 18th & 19th March. Mother’s Day is a special time, and we hope the walk can be a way for us all to share a happy day together with our loved ones and friends. What an achievement it will be to have been part of some (or all) of the 45km walk across London, navigating a path through the Royal Parks and back to Chiswick. Marie would be proud.

What are we doing? A 45km walk across London, spanning all of the royal parks. You can support Pancreatic Cancer UK by joining us on the walk across the weekend, or on either day. 

What are the stats? More than half of people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer die within 3 months. Symptoms are vague, so many are categorised as stage 3 or 4, which means the cancer has spread and is typically terminal. It increasingly affects younger people and due to their age many are misdiagnosed for a period of time; causing delays to potential treatments that could extend their lives.  

Survival rates have improved enormously for most cancers, yet for pancreatic cancer, this is not the case. It will soon be the fourth leading cause of cancer death. Yet only 3% of cancer funding in the UK is dedicated to pancreatic cancer. 

Why Pancreatic Cancer UK? The charity is dedicated to taking on this injustice using every possible means. They're supporting people with pancreatic cancer now, campaigning, and funding vital research to transform the future. We need to help them to make the breakthroughs that people with pancreatic cancer so desperately need. So other families do not have to suffer as we have. 

How else can you get involved or see our progress? We plan to do a lot more for and with Pancreatic Cancer UK. 

You can follow our fundraising efforts here: Just Giving Team page. 

And our story: PCUK In Memory page.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and supporting our fundraising efforts.