Hadrian\'s Help for Heroes.

[Stuart Ivinson]

[attachment=0:1fcmwyyy]<!-- ia0 Stu & Kev.JPG<!-- ia0 [/attachment:1fcmwyyy]Dear All,

On July 30th Kevin Morley (formerly a serviceman with the Light Infantry) and Stuart Ivinson (Assistant Librarian at the Royal Armouries in Leeds), will be starting out on a five day trek across northern England, along Hadrian’s Wall from Wallsend-on-Tyne to Bowness-on-Solway. We're doing this to raise money for the charity Help for Heroes, which provides direct practical assistance for British servicemen and women wounded in recent conflicts. As many of you have done already, we will be marching the distance dressed in the clothing and carrying the arms and equipment of 4th century Roman soldiers.

After a bit of negotiation English Heritage, the Vindolanda Trust, Tyne & Wear Museums and Carlisle City Council have all kindly allowed us to stop and lay on displays and demonstrations a number of sites. In all, eight demonstrations are planned to take place over the five days. These will include a table of replica Roman artefacts for people to look at and handle, and a demonstration of combat techniques - weather permitting. A schedule of events is reproduced at the end of this letter. For the displays Kevin and Stuart will be assisted by a support crew of four (Dawn Phythian, John Powney, Ed and Catriona Wiles).

Hadrian’s Help for Heroes have an online blog, so that people will be able to follow their progress each day:

http://www.hadrianshelpforheroes.blogspot.com/

More importantly we have a Just Giving page to collect the all important donations:

http://www.justgiving.com/hadrianshelpforheroes

As we are sure you will understand, the more publicity we can generate for this the better - hence this posting. Reenactors are generally famed for their generosity towards a good cause, and we hope you'll agree that there a few betterthan this. So, although we don't need any assistance from you, we'd be pleased to have your best wishes as well as your donations. We thank you for your kind consideration in this matter.

All the Best,

Stuart Ivinson & Kevin Morley
Hadrian’s Help for Heroes.


Event schedule.

Friday 30th July. Segedunum Roman Fort, Wallsend, 10.00 AM – 12.00 PM

Saturday 31st July. Corbridge Roman Site, Corbridge, 11.30 AM – 1.30 PM

Saturday 31st July. Chesters Roman Fort, Chollerford, 4.00 PM – 6.00 PM

Sunday 1st August. Housesteads Roman Fort, 12.30 PM – 1.30 PM

Sunday 1st August. Vindolanda Roman Site, Chesterholm, 2.30 PM – 4.30 PM

Monday 2nd August. Roman Army Museum, Carvoran, 10.00 AM – 11.00 AM

Monday 2nd August. Birdoswald Roman Fort, near Brampton, 12.00 PM - 1.00 PM

Tuesday 3rd August. Tullie House Museum, Carlisle, 10.00 AM – 12.00 PM

Please note that all timings are approximate, and are dependant upon how fast we a walking at any given point. We will do our best to stick to the advertised times as much as we can. Further details can be found on our blog - address as above.

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

I was thinking you will be walking at a hel£ of a pace...but not having done it myself, who knows.
All the best and will follow your progress with interest!

[Stuart Ivinson]

It's between 14 and 20 miles a day, and we're both experienced hill walkers, so it should be ok....

Thanks for your best wishes, I'll leave a total of my daily blisters on the blog each night!

Stu.

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Is it only that far from Wallsend to Corbridge? :o
Looks a lot further.... :?
Still, you'll be busy, so hope the weather is kind.
One day I will get a walk in down there. Probably not at that pace though :oops:

[PhilusEstilius]

I want to wish you lads all the very best with this endevour and yes Byron it's about that distance to Corbridge, in fact Milecastle 22 stands at Stagshaw just two miles above Corbridge west of the Fort of Onnum.

Again all the best guys and hope this lovely English summer continues for you.

[Arminius Primus]

Fratres,

Fantastic idea, Hope you make your goal, it is a very worthwhile cause!..... For all of you foreigners out there ( I am one), the donation software was easy to access and use. We should see more of this in the Hobby.

Regards from a cool but humid although breezy Scupi, Arminius Primus aka Al

[scott]

Best wishes for your walk. A worthy endeavour indeed and I sincerely hope you reach your target.

[Robert Vermaat]

All the best guys, that's a truly worthwhile walk.

[Crispvs]

I wish you all the very best with a very worthy endeavour.

If I might, I would offer a couple of points based on my own group's experience of marching Hadrian's Wall a few years ago.
Firstly, be prepared for the gates along the way. We found that these gates, whilst fine for walkers with little or no bulky kit, presented a frequent and annoying obstacle to a column of men in full equipment. You may find that these gates slow down your progress somewhat, although if only two of you are in kit then the delay should not be too great.

Secondly, a week or two before our walk was due to begin, as the final arrangements were being made, we were advised that Tyne and Wear Police were concerned about the effect the sight of a group of men armed with bladed weapons might have on the locals in some areas of Newcastle which we had planned to walk through and so in the end we compromised and so having marched from Bowness on Solway, we stopped at Heddon on the Wall and then travelled by van to Wallsend, which was a bit disapponting but the police deemed it better all round.

Anyway, as I said above, I hope that your walk is a great success and raises a significant amount. I used to work at Selly Oak Hospital and so have a very good idea of where the money goes and how badly it is needed.

Crispvs

[Stuart Ivinson]

Crispus,

Thanks for the advice, it is appreciated. I hadn't thought about the footpath gates, I can imagine trying to get through with a shiled slung over the back will be difficult and hilarious!As there's just the two of us it shouldn't slow us down though.

We have already taken advice regarding marching through Newcastle, and will be doing that bit of the walk in modern civvies. As we cannot collect money in Newcastle due to the city council's policy on charity collecting, it won't really make that much difference anyway. So once we're done at Segedunum we'll be gettingn changed and making our way through town as fast as we can. The real march will beging the next morning - in kit - at Harlow Hill.

As you say, your experiences at Selly Oak will show how badly the cash is needed for our Boys and Girls. So far we've raised nearly £600.00 and counting. In the grand scheme of things it isn't much - but every little helps.

Thanks for your good wishes,

Stu.

[Caballo]

we were advised that Tyne and Wear Police were concerned about the effect the sight of a group of men armed with bladed weapons might have on the locals in some areas of Newcastle which we had planned to walk through

Or as one of the Comitatus miles put in on the last Wall Walk in 4th century kit " I'm dinna gan through Byker dressed like that, mun"......

Good luck with the walk- great cause!

(For our non UK people.... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byker )

[jkaler48]

Sounds like the fear of men with blades may be a result of inherited PTSD resulting from past Viking raids. A couple of long ships sailing up the river would probably require stress counseling for every man women and child in the whole town.

[Stuart Ivinson]

Trust me my friend,

It's take more than a few boat loads of Scandiwegian booze cruisers to get the better of the average Geordie these days.

I'm half-geordie myself, but that's not nearly enough!

Cheers,

Stuart.

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

More like a few bus loads of Newcastle lasses on a hen night... :wink:

[Stuart Ivinson]

Just a quick reminder to all and sundry that the Hadrian's Help for Heroes Charity Walk kicks off on Friday 30th July at Segedunum Roman Fort, Wallsend on Tyne, 10.00am - 12.00pm.

Don't forget that we have a Blog you can follow and jeer at our progress:

http://www.hadrianshelpforheroes.blogspot.com/

And more importantly we have a Just Giving page to collect the all important donations:

http://www.justgiving.com/hadrianshelpforheroes

We've already raised over £700.00 for a very worthy cause, and those who have donated we say thank you - but we'd like to top £1000.00 so please feel free to donate generously. Your donations and your best wishes will spur us on to victory.

I just hope the weather improves!

All the Best,

Stuart Ivinson & Kev Morley
Hadrian's Help for Heroes.