Oxfam Walk

Oxfam Walk

Thanks to all the walkers for braving the early rain! The sun burst through the clouds by lunchtime and a fabulous time was had by all! We're well on our way to raising £50,000 for Oxfam's vital emergency work, so tell your sponsors about your fantastic achievement and remember, the deadline this year for fundraising is 31st July. This year you can pay in online to speed up the process.

Above is a slideshow of photos from the day. If you'd like to see some more then take a look at our Flickr page where you can also access images from the last four years.

Over 40 years of the Cambridge Oxfam Walk

On Saturday 22 April 1967, 900 walkers set off on a 27-mile, A130–A11 marathon to Bishop’s Stortford to raise money for Oxfam. A year later they repeated the exercise and then in 1969 they undertook a hike to Bedford – 30 miles along roads with traffic hurtling by!

Since then, the Oxfam Walks around Cambridge have become an annual institution, now less arduous than in those early days, with more choice of routes and mainly along footpaths rather than roads, but each year raising money and making a significant contribution to Oxfam.

Last year couldn't have seen more perfect event with over 1100 walkers taking part in the glorious sunshine and raising over £40,000, a fantastic achievement! Special congratulations go to ‘The Overtakers’ for winning the Highest Team Fundraising Trophy raising a magnificent £1454 – a difficult target to beat this year.

Special thanks

Oxfam would like to thank the following partners, sponsors, suppliers, and supporters who make this event possible:

Stagecoach, Cambridge City Council, Cambridge Building Society, Marshall Motor Group, Heffers, Toilet+ ltd, Algar Signcraft, AquAid, Red Cross, AA, Jonathan Sedley (Sports Masseur), Woodcraft Folk, TCS Exhumation Services Ltd, Ridgeons Ltd. and last but not least a big thank you to all the fantastic volunteers in the Cambridge team who have put in so much time and effort.

What Oxfam can do with the money

By walking you will be helping people all over the world – from Darfur to Pakistan, the Middle East to Sri Lanka.

The money you raise will go to support Oxfam’s Emergencies Fund, a life saving tool in helping people recover from natural disaster and conflict. Oxfam works in over 30 countries to provide clean water and sanitation, health and hygiene care and security for some of the 30 million people affected by conflict or natural disaster every year.

Funding such work is essential to reduce death and disease and to help communities recover from floods, famine, persecution and conflict.

Oxfam makes a real difference to people's lives worldwide but we cannot do it without you. Just £50 could pay for a hygienic toilet, vital for preventing the spread of disease in an emergency.

However far you choose to walk, you’ll be going a long way towards supporting Oxfam’s emergency work around the world.

Fundraising made easy

Walkers are asked to raise at least £50 each – if every walker we expect on the day achieves this we’ll raise £50,000!

To help with your fundraising we have hand-picked 3 of the finest tips to get you started without having to break in to a sweat:

• Set up an e-fundraising page
  Quick and easy to use. All you need to do is enter your details, how much you hope to raise, the event you’re entering and then you get a free web page. Then send this link to your family and friends and add it to the bottom of all your emails. You can even add a photo if you want to brighten up your web page.
• Sponsorship form
  If you prefer the old fashioned method we have sponsorship forms which you can download and pass around to your friends and family.
• Matched Giving
  Ask the company you work for if they have a match giving scheme. If they do ask if they would be prepared to match the money you raise pound for pound and you could effectively double your sponsorship! If they don’t, ask them if they’d be interested in setting one up.