I am very pleased to announce that I will be joined by my son on the walk this year. He has a close affinity with the aims and objectives of our walk which are to raise awareness of mental health issues and homelessness amongst veterans, and to raise £5,000 for two charities that assist them.
By Tom Sawford.
The walk dates are now set at 14-19 December, starting in Ottery St Mary in Devon and ending early Saturday afternoon at Winchester Cathedral. If you would like to join us for a day or so please get in touch.
You can support the two if us in our walk and the charities that we support by giving on our Just Giving page here. We would like to start the walk with £2,000 raised and have a way to go to reach that so please, please consider giving something – the Just Giving site takes all major currencies. Every donation helps, no matter how small or large!
Combat Stress is the UK’s leading Veterans’ mental health charity. Mental ill-health such as PTSD affects ex-Service men and women of all ages. Right now, the charity supports over 5,900 Veterans aged from 18 to 97, and spends over £15 million per annum delivering its unique range of specialist treatment and welfare support which is always free of charge.
Winchester Churches Nightshelter provides a vital lifeline to the homeless, and remains the only night shelter offering direct access emergency accommodation in Hampshire. They support up to 200 homeless people annually. There is a direct link between mental health problems such as PTSD and homelessness. Money raised will go direct to the homeless which I feel may be a better outcome than through a larger charity.
We hope that you will feel inspired to support the fundraising and make some (doubly !!!) generous contributions at the Just Giving page where you can choose to split your donations between the two charities if you wish.
There is a public Facebook page if you want to follow the progress. https://www.facebook.com/walkinghomeforchristmas/
Thank you all very much. Please donate here. https://www.justgiving.com/teams/likeatramp
Patrick Leigh Fermor 
To everyone who reads this excellent and entertaining blog about the great PLF – please support Tom and his son on their walk to Winchester for such deserving charities. A glance outside shows it’s raining again, so I suspect it’s not going to be much fun, and they should have our support, in however small a way. Thank you.