CHARITY WALK - GIBRALTAR TO THE END OF THE WORLD - 1500 Kms/900+ miles

For more information and to follow our progress go to:  http://www.walkforwilliam2010.blogspot.com/  

WILLIAM GOMEZ

My brother William, like myself, was born in Gibraltar. He was a child prodigy, learning the classical guitar from a very early age, playing in his first public concert at the age of 12.  In the early 1960's he was acknowledged to be among the top five classical guitarists in the world. After touring extensively world-wide for a number of years, he elected to return to Gibraltar and spend the rest of his life there. He was passionate about music and made it his life's ambition to engender a love of music among young people. In 1990 he was awarded an MBE for his services to music.  In July 2008 the Government of Gibraltar bestowed posthumously upon him the Gibraltar Medallion of Honour, one of its highest awards, second only to the Freedom of the City.. 

Shortly before he died William composed an arrangement of the Ave Maria which has received much acclaim.  A video recording of this can be seen by clicking the link on the left. 

THE CHALLENGE

In 2007 I walked the whole length of the River Thames Path, some 213 miles, in memory of William.  A total of £11,500 was raised for charities in the UK and in Gibraltar.  This year I would like to go further, in every sense of the word!  I am therefore going to attempt to walk from Gibraltar to Finisterre, considered in the old days to be the end of the world, a total of approximately 1500kms or just over 900 miles.  My wife, Ana Maria, will be walking with me the whole of the way.  We hope to commence our walk on April 17th at the Shrine of Our Lady of Europa in Gibraltar, which has been in existence for over 700 years!  All being well we aim to complete the walk sometime in June just in time to celebrate my 65^th birthday! 

CHARITIES BEING SUPPORTED

The Sam Beare Hospice - Weybridge, Surrey, UK

Details of this charity can be found on this page.  I should add that it also provides very valuable outreach programmes helping patients and their families at home.  The difficult prevailing financial conditions in the UK and elsewhere have reduced its income considerably and the outreach programmes are facing drastic cutbacks. Several celebrity Weybridge residents including the PR guru Max Clifford and Theo Paphitis (of Dragons Den fame) are helping to front a fundraising campaign. Our effort is but a small part of this.  If you would like to donate to this charity please click on the DONATE button.

RICC (Research into Childhood Cancer) - Gibraltar

RICC was set up in 1989 in Gibraltar by two of our closest friends, Anthony and Margaret Sacarello, following the death of one of their sons, Philip, aged 9 from Neuroblastoma, a lethal form of child cancer. Sadly, Anthony himself passed away from cancer last year and so our walk this year is also dedicated to his memory.

All funds received by RICC go to The Institute of Child Health at Great Ormond Street Hospital (Science section). Senior adviser at RICC is Dr Anthony Michalski, a consultant oncologist.  RICC is registered charity No. 49 in Gibraltar. Its work has already directly contributed to groundbreaking progress made in both finding a cure for certain types of cancer and age ranges and in developing less invasive treatment, two of the charities principle objectives. 

If you would like to donate to this charity please make out your cheques payable to RICC and send it to: Walk for William 2010, RICC, c/o 325 Main Street, Gibraltar or transfer funds to NatWest Bank, Line Wall Road, Gibraltar in favour of a/c No.36256595 RICC (Research into Childhood Cancer) 

BLOG

For more information and to follow our progress go to: www.walkforwilliam2010.blogspot.com 

We hope to be updating this on a regular basis.