Latest news
Sellafield worker Swampy fits the Bill for charity walk
Sellafield Ltd Control Systems engineer Bill “Swampy” Moore has successfully completed a charity walk to raise money for the Light Dragoons Colonel’s Appeal.
Bill, a former solider with the 13th/18 Royal Hussars, now part of the Light Dragoons, answered the call from his old regimental mates to help raise funds for the appeal, which has been launched to give money to soldiers and families who suffer losses and injuries.
The challenge, dubbed Swampy’s Yomp, was for Bill to walk the 150 miles between Egremont and Barnsley – the traditional home of his regiment – carrying all of his supplies and his camping equipment, which weighed in at over four stones, on his back, every step of the way.
Battered and blistered, Bill, 43, arrived at his destination on time to be greeted by a host of former army mates and his mum. It took him five days to complete the challenge, in some awful weather. He even managed to march the final 100 yards when a former colleague played the regimental march.
Bill said: “I left Egremont at 6am on the Wednesday in the sunshine. It started to rain as I walked past Sellafield and didn’t really stop for long over the next five days.
“I’d been walking to work in the Thorp Management Centre from home and back at least a couple of times a week to break by boots in and to try and get used to the walking, but nothing prepared me for how difficult it could be.
“But it was for a good cause, and I like to think that I went through five days of severe pain which took me another five or six days to fully recover from. The brave men and women who are injured or killed at war and their families can suffer a lifetime of pain from which they never recover.”
Bill, who was backed by sponsorship from Nuclear Management Partners and Ladbrokes the bookermakers, thinks he will have raised over £2,500 for the appeal, with money still coming in.
To sponsor him visit http://www.virginmoneygiving.com/swampys_yomp
