It’s All That Come’s With It‘s blogiversary today. Four years old, can you believe it. And still no signs of slowing down.
Well, ok, there might be some signs of slowing down. Like the fact I used to post daily and now it’s generally two or three times a week. Or that I’ve had all the ingredients for a new special kids podcast for a month now, yet I still haven’t got round to putting them all together.
But that’s not due to a lack of enthusiasm. I’m still as excited about blogging as I ever was. I just spread myself around a bit more these days, that’s all. Take the Midnight Movie Club for example – who knew that talking about popcorn movies from the 80′s and 90′s with a Aussie reprobate would be so much fun?
And then of course there’s this Hadrian’s Walk thing.
Five years ago my very good friends Neil and Rachael lost their three year old son, Joseph. He died of streptococcal pneumonia. There were no warning signs. He wasn’t ill when they put him to bed. But when they went to wake him up in the morning he was gone.
I can’t even bare to imagine how that feels.
Joseph
Determined to grasp something positive out of such a tragedy, Neil and Rachael founded the Joseph Salmon Trust in their son’s name. If he wasn’t to be able to reach his full potential to leave his mark on the world, then they would do it for him.
The Trust provides financial support to parents who have lost a child. This may be to help with funeral costs, or to allow the self employed a break from work in order to come to terms with their grief. Bereaved families have enough to cope with without the added concern about where they will find the money to pay for a headstone, or pay the next electricity bill if they can’t face going to work.
The Trust deals with each family on a case by case basis, providing help to those who need it most. Families that the charity has helped include that of twelve year old Jordan, who died in a prank gone tragically wrong; and Ryan, a four year old boy brutally murdered as an act of revenge against his mother.
These are horrific, heartbreaking tales. But every single family that the trust helps has a similarly tragic story. There are no “it’s probably for the best”‘s when a child dies. No “they had a good innings”. Just heartbreak, despair, and a beautiful hope lost. There is nothing we can do to make things better. But we can do something to stop them getting worse.
Back in 2008 a group of eleven friends and I hiked 76 miles along the Dales Way footpath in aid of the Trust. We raised £6,000, gained a great sense of achievement, and had a fantastic time int he process. Back in June of last year I announced my intention to do it all again. But this time I asked if anyone who visited my blog wanted to come with me.
The response was staggering.
As it stands there will be over sixty people joining me on a 86 mile long walk of Hadrian’s Wall this July. People are coming from all over the world to walk the path and show their support for the Trust. We’ve got people from England, Scotland, Ireland, America and Holland. We’ve got paramedics, nurses, policemen, teachers, bankers, writers, editors, and stay-at-home parents. We’ve even got a university professor and an American superior court judge. And all this is through the power of a blog.
Now try telling me that you can’t use the internet to make real friends.
Not everyone who is coming on the walk is a blogger themselves. In fact the majority aren’t (although most are friends or family of those who are and are being dragged along for the ride). But over the coming few days I’d like to use my blog to showcase the bloggers who are coming with me. There isn’t one among them that I don’t admire as a writer and a human being, and sometimes I just like to show off about my friends.
If you would like to make a donation to the Joseph Salmon Trust you can do so on our Justgiving Page. All the charities running costs are paid for corporate sponsorship, and so every penny of your donation will go straight to the people who need it most.
