The day began where the Walk had ended at St James' Park and some additional recording with Dene Films--Richard Lee, John White and Shaun Philippson have been a major part of Walk for Tomorrow--2010 and they have been huge fun to be with all the way down from Alnwick.
First stop were the City Road offices of Tomorrow's People in Newcastle. Linda Ferguson one of the national organisers of TP was on hand for the final day and welcomed me. It is always special to visit the offices of TP in Newcastle because I never fail to come away inspired and encouraged and this final day was no different.
As I arrived the young people were working on ingenious ways of using straws, paperclips, and selloptape to create a bridge between desks. If someone had said this was part of the interview process for a major employer like Shell, Sage or McKinsey & Co then I would have been impressed, but this was being done by young people who no formal qualifications.
We then set off towards the Angel of the North where we met with Guy Readman who built a great north east business Tor Coatings. Guy is a highly astute businessman and respected as such and when he spoke about visiting Tomorrow's People in Newcastle it was a cool headed assessment of the value which the programmes were adding to young people that persuaded him to provide generous sponsorship of the 'Walk for Tomorrow--2010'. Guy made the point that the success of the TP approach was in the ratio of staff to clients (young people) and the fact that they followed up and kept in touch after the programme had finished--he made the point that in training as in most other areas--you get what you pay for'.
The walk continued with Leanne Smith, Toni-Leigh and Matt joining me on the walk to our next stop in Chester-le-Street the Riverside County Cricket Ground where Durham was playing Nottinghamshire. We were taken into one of the corporate boxes and had the chance to meet two Durham players--Calum Thorpe and Mark Wood. What struck me was how interested they were in talking to the young people and hearing their stories. The cricket club had a wonderful family and community feel and they made us very welcome and sent us on our way with additional support for the final leg.
I think the stretch from Chester-le-Street was the longest 7 miles of the walk for all of us--especially for the wonderful Toni-Leigh Paxton who hadn't walked further than the corner 'shops' in her life and was now trying to complete 18.5 miles. We were all inspired that despite leg cramps and real fatigue Toni-Leigh kept going and was able to lead us up the final hill in Durham and onto Palace Green to be met by Baroness Debbie Scott, Chief Executive of Tomorrow's People who had travelled up especially to be at the finish--Debbie is an inspiring person who has built and amazing organisation and for her to make the seven hour round trip to welcome the young people and myself across the finish line was a great encouragement.
Then it was off to the party at Pizza Express on Saddler Street, Durham for our end of walk meal. There was a great atmosphere as we all reflected on another successful walk which was very much a team effort: Fiona Greg, Gillian Atkinson and Leanne Smith had done an incredible job of leading the organisation of the Walk. I was very grateful to my family--my eldest son Matt, my sister, Alison and her son Daniel and my mum and dad, for the support they gave along the way providing water and refreshments and picking up bags and moving them on to the next destination. But we would all recognise that the greatest thanks should go to the young people: Matthew O'Malley, Rob Scoble, Toni-Leigh Paxton and Shaun Philippson for inspiring us all to get involved with Tomorrow's People.
Over pizza talk turned enthusiastically to 'Walk for Tomorrow--2011'?
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