Well-known Suffolk cartoonist and best-selling author Charlie Haylock has continued his multi-stage charity walk across the county to encourage local authorities to take a more positive approach towards litter.
Mr Haylock, from Great Cornard, planned the walk after a strong response to his cartoon and letter in the EADT earlier this year on the problem of rubbish on Suffolk’s highways.
Yesterday, Mr Haylock walked from the Five Bells pub in Great Cornard, to the Eden-Rose Coppice Trust woodland, of which Mr Haylock is a patron of, in Sudbury.
The walk started with around 60 people including comedian Roy Hudd and Harry Sobkwiak, a pupil at Woolpit Primary School, winner of Mid Suffolk District Council’s litter awareness poster campaign.
By the end of the walk there were more than 100 people taking part.
Mr Haylock said: “It went very well.
“It was a fantastic feeling. There were people joining us, putting money in the tin, we raised around £500.
“A lot of young people get blamed for making the place untidy, but we had a lot of young people very passionate about litter there.”
So far the walk has raised £8,500, and Mr Haylock believes today, fundraising could hit the £10,000 mark.
The walk is not only a protest against litter that blights the county, but to get local authorities to do something about litter, and is also a fundraiser for the Eden-Rose Coppice Trust woodland.
The trust provides services that include palliative care for cancer sufferers, carrying out work at its three-acre woodland site in Sudbury, and is now expanding into Ipswich.
It needs to raise £250,000 after securing two long-term leases on the three-and-a-half-acre Brickmakers’ Wood near the centre of the town. The final stage begins today from there and takes walkers through Nacton, Levington and the Trimleys before finishing at the Orwell Hotel, Felixstowe.
Mr Haylock said: “Thanks to all the people who have joined us on the walks and cheered us on.”
Rob Brooks, founder of the trust, who joined in the walk yesterday, said: “We had around 105 people walking through Sudbury, stopping the traffic.
“I think people noticed us.
“We can turn Brickmakers’ Wood into something Ipswich and the county of Suffolk can be proud of.”
Anyone who wants to join any stage of the walk, or offer sponsorship, can contact Mr Haylock at charliehaylock@hotmail.com or phone 01787 311736.
Sponsorship forms are also available on 0789 6844814.
The Eden-Rose Coppice Trust can be contacted via its website at www.withnature.org
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