This week the Rotary Club of Oswestry welcomed Paul Edwards to their weekly meeting. Paul is due to walk the width of the USA in the new year in a bid to to raise £20,000 for Hope House and Ty Gobaith Children’s Hospices.
Paul, who is 57 and from Pen-y-cae near Wrexham described the course he will be taking, starting on 6 January at Ocean Beach, California and passing through 11 states over 2,800 miles to arrive in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
Paul described some of the difficult terrain he will have to contend with and the high altitude walking in Arizona and New Mexico.
Describing his training, Paul said it is essentially “Lots of miles every day for a lot of days”. He has done several charity walks for Hop House before, last year he walked from John O’Groats to Lands End, dressed as Deadpool, including stopping at the Racecourse Ground and two years ago he walked from Fort William via Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon to Pen-y-cae.
Paul described how even though he doesn’t have children, close friends had lost children to long term illness, which is why he fundraises for Hope House.
Lynsey Kilvert, Fundraising Manager for Hope House came along with Paul and described how tge £27,000 Paul has raised so far has supported five families using the Snowflake Suite where families can say goodbye to their children after they have died, in their own time in their own way.
Pictured: James and Cathy Davies, the owners of MULE Cycle Club Café in Oswestry, also came along to hear Paul speak.
