This past weekend, some dedicated members of the Abortion Resistance army marched for 30 miles, raising over £1,000 for the organization. This is their story...
Strangely, even though all my sisters and I have been pro-life all our lives it never crossed our minds to actually do something actively (apart from attending rallies and emailing MPs) to help out - that is until we got involved with Abortion Resistance.
Together, we decided to do a walk to raise money for Abortion Resistance (obviously the best group). We originally planned to walk 25 miles, but I slightly peer pressured everyone into committing to 30 miles (people want to see us go through pain).
The morning of the 26th dawned bright and the sun, even though it was 6am, was shining. Everyone who was walking, myself (Ruth Patten), 3 of my 4 sisters; Esther, Marian and Grace, and then also Tom and Theo Ward, got to the starting point (our kitchen) and then we set off.
The first 10 miles were great, the pace was perfect even though SOME PEOPLE (you know who you are) said we were going too quickly.
We passed some interesting places - the first one was a lovely boat cafe shop along the river in Woodbridge. The second place was a dodgy camp-ish place near Rendlesham with DIY shacks, some bearded dudes in vans, a blown up car and a bright pink gate which said ‘Lost Boys (something scratched out) Zoo’. The pace definitely quickened past here. Apart from a few five minute stops, we only had one long break of half an hour and we propped ourselves up against trees in silence to eat and then resurrected enough to make a short video. Apologies, Theo, for no one helping you with your vast quantities of various (warm) cheeses!
The last 8 miles sucked after Robert Kennedy joined us and abandoned his car…all his fault obviously (I’m joking). Everyone's legs were in pain and the mood was shooting down. It didn't help that we made a wrong turn or what we thought was a wrong turn, but Theo came good with his navigational skills and thankfully no one killed him during negotiations.
When we got into Snape our taxi (Dad) was waiting for us at the corner and everyone was so happy that we had made it. Unfortunately, as I was wearing the tracker watch, I had to break the news that we actually had 2 miles to go. So, we had to keep on walking past the car, past the pub we were planning on stopping at, and head off down a footpath. This is the point when everyone was getting a liiiiiittle bit angry and doubting the watch and hobbling like anything. Marian and Grace (virtuously) refrained from swearing at the fast ones as they nobly brought up the rear.
Everyone staggered into the pub at 20 past 5, feeling a great sense of relief, pleasure at being useful for once and great delirium! Rob and Thomas bought us all drinks (thank you, you heroes) and we stubbornly (and stupidly) sat outside shivering, and devouring Theo’s bag of sweets that he’d somehow kept back.
We are so grateful for everyone’s generosity (we seriously didn’t think we’d ever raise over £1000) and it’s all down to you guys!
Thank you so much, Abortion Resistance, for providing a pro-life platform that young people can feel part of; actively making a difference together. Keep up the good work and we will too - together.