Sun and smiles for best Coast Along yet

16 September 2009

A team lining up for the Coast Along walk.

Credit: WaterAid / Vanessa Ashton

The sun shone brightly for the 620 people who donned their walking boots to take part in Coast Along for WaterAid this weekend.

The venture, which is designed to get people walking on sections of the 630-mile UK South West Coast Path and the 186-mile Pembrokeshire Coast Path in Wales, is expected to raise £80,000 for WaterAid.

A total of 154 teams walked on 76 sections of the beautiful coastline. Those taking part ranged from farmers and school groups to rotarians and scouts. Employees from the UK water industry and associated companies, the NHS and the Environment Agency also participated.

One particularly keen walker was Maxim Laithwaite, who walked the entire length of the South West Coast Path - relying entirely on the kindness of strangers to feed and shelter him. Watch his story here.

A number of notable politicians laced-up for the walk too. Among them were Welsh Assembly member, Jane Davidson (Minister for the Environment, Sustainability and Housing), and Julia Goldsworthy MP (Shadow Cabinet Minister for Local Government).

Vanessa Ashton, Regional Development Manager, South West England and Wales, said: "It was a brilliant day and great to see so many people getting really enthusiastic about raising money for WaterAid, and at the same time having fun in the sun!

"The Pembrokeshire Coast Path was a new addition this year and we were delighted to see lots of people local to that area getting involved for the first time."

Up until now the event has happened every other year, but following on from this latest success it is now expected to take place annually in September - with more sections around the British coastline being added.

For more information about Coast Along visit the website at coastalongforwateraid.org.

Media contact: 

Gillian Winstone
t: 01453 753639 / 07970 945660
e: gillianwinstone@btinternet.com 

Notes to editors: 

Key WaterAid stats:

• At least 4,000 children die every day as a result of diseases caused by unclean water and poor sanitation.
• 884 million people in the world do not have access to safe water. This is roughly one in eight of the world's population.
• 2.5 billion people in the world do not have access to adequate sanitation, this is almost two fifths of the world's population.
• WaterAid projects providing safe water, sanitation and hygiene education cost just £15 per head.