One last Midnight Walk as Aylesbury charity announces long-running fundraiser will be cancelled due to diminishing participation

A well-known Aylesbury-based charity has announced it is ending one of its long-serving fundraising traditions.

Florence Nightingale Hospice Charity is cancelling its annual Midnight Walk after this year's event.

The charity has cited a lack of participation and dwindling numbers when it came to donations as the key reasons for the decision.

Over the past two years no official walk has taken place due to Covid restrictions, but the charity reports figures were in decline before the pandemic started.

Since its inception back in 2010, the Midnight Walk has seen hundreds of men and women walk over 50,000 miles around the streets of Aylesbury.

Overall, more than £650,000 has been raised to support terminally ill patients and their families across Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Bedfordshire.

However, the charity has confirmed that this year’s Midnight Walk will be its last.

“Midnight Walk started in 2010 with 550 women walking up to 12 miles through the night and had become the highlight of our fundraising calendar,” says Claire Redrup, public fundraising manager at the charity.

“However in the final few years, before the enforced breaks in 2020 and 2021, we had seen a reduction in the number of walkers and money raised.

"We have had lots of feedback from our virtual NOT The Midnight Walks and have made the decision that this will be the charity’s final Midnight Walk and are planning something new and more accessible for our supporters to take part in next year.

"We hope that our local community will support this year’s Farewell Midnight

"Walk and take this opportunity to come together to remember loved ones and to support their local hospice as we walk these final miles for one last time.”

Walkers can choose between completing five and 10 mile circular routes, both starting from Aylesbury College at midnight on Saturday 16 July.

Florence Nightingale Hospice Charity organises refreshment stops along the way for the midnight walkers.

Early bird tickets will be made available on 30 April.

Walkers receive a free commemorative Farewell Midnight Walk 2022 T- shirt, as well as a complementary free breakfast at the end of the walk.

More information is available online on the Florence Nightingale Hospice website, or by calling the charity on 01296 429975.