BRIDGNORTH Fairtrade steering group chairman Ray Gill was welcomed into the High Street by a crowd of supporters including his wife – the town’s mayor – on Saturday after a 120-mile walk which included a near accident as he approached Much Wenlock. Ray, 67, had started his walk in the UK’s first Fairtrade town, Garstang in Lancashire, the previous week.
“He felt the wind in his cheeks as one car overtook another as he came towards Much Wenlock,” said local steering group treasurer Derek Cole this week. “It was a close shave.” He added that the former Bridgnorth Baptist Church minister was “quite sprightly” at the end of the marathon and was “full of beans” when he conducted the morning service at the Cartway United Reformed & Methodist Church on Sunday.
Mr Cole said that a good crowd of between 30 and 40 people had welcomed Ray on his arrival in the High Street with Lindy Macdonald, who had stepped it out with him from Morville. Ray spent five nights away from home and on arrival at Wigan had to take a break from his challenge to attend the funeral of his son-in-law, Gary Smith, who had tragically passed away at the age of 39, following a six-month battle with cancer. He was back on the road in Liverpool early the following morning.
Ray’s penultimate leg, from Oswestry to Shrewsbury, was in aid of the British Heart Foundation and dedicated to former mayor, Councillor MacGriffiths, who passed away suddenly last autumn.
The walk coincided with Fairtrade Fortnight to raise awareness of the issue. Ray gave a presentation about his walk at an open meeting at the town hall last night (March 5), at which the speaker was Hannah Reed of the Fairtrade Foundation. The local steering group organised a successful stall in the High Street on Saturday and also sold Fairtrade tea, coffee and biscuits at the town hall.