Dorset Walk 2024 : The Malcolm Whales Foundation

This year, due to the increased size of the walk, I took our school minibus full with year 10 and 11 students down Wednesday afternoon/evening, a day earlier than normal. When we arrived in Dorset we were greeted by the normal ‘away team’ who were already on camp and beginning the preparations. The plan was that during Thursday we would be able to construct all the various marquees that now occupy base camp.

This proved an excellent new addition as the 20 + helpers spent most of Thursday morning and afternoon hard at work, meaning by the time the schools began to arrive everything was in place.

Due to the increasing scale, 400 this year (130 more than the previous year), everything had to be scaled up. This year we debuted the two bigger mess tents and a number of kitchen upgrades that the team, and Jon Hutton in particular, were giddy with excitement about.

Previously we have relied heavily on minibuses, this year we have had to move to coaches, with two double deckers and a 59 seater now forming the core of the fleet with an additional 4 or 5 minibuses completing the Cambridgeshire Armada.

This year along with Ken Stimpson, Ely College and Prince William we welcomed three new schools: Swavesey Village College – with Zoe Marley leading their debut, Arthur Mellows Village College – with the super keen Emma Kavanagh leading, and Hampton Gardens with Barrett Steward and Jody Lapish (formerly Ely College who joined us in 2009 & 2010 and now returning in 2024).

The planning for this scale I must admit sharpened my senses and provided a few sleepless nights – can we cope with this scale? What do we do if we can’t cope with this scale?

A key part of the walk every year is the amount of support and donations. This year we received:

A huge range of Fruit kindly donated by Parrell
The eggs and sausages from Feversham Free Range Eggs
The burgers and mince from Hilton Foods
Bacon from Dale Parsons
The fridge trailer for another year from MC Refrigeration
Financial donations to cover the costs the support vans from: Lattenbury Faming Company, J & A Lyon, JH Buckingham, the Ely Freemasons and Chris Large.
Enough cake for 400 from Hayley Greenwood.

Another key aspect to the walk is the t shirt colours, this year: Day 1 Pink, Day 2 Navy and Day 3 White.

The weekend starts with Thursday as the travel day, for some this was a travel ‘day’ due to a crash on the A1 (a lorry crashing into a bridge), journey times were report in the region of 7.5 hours!

The adults arrive and are welcomed by perhaps our keenest Patron and biggest supporter. Andy Emery meets/greets/inducts/briefs/ready’s the adults with all the things they need to know; think of a speed awareness course multiplied by the most enthusiastic human being in Dorset. Thanks Andy for your support and help!

We also share the weekend with the Euros and this year shared England attempting to be the worst performing international side to win the European Championship. The campsite outdoor stadium was created on Sunday evening – England stuck to their guns, performed poorly and lost in the final, again!

The walking as always begins on Weymouth seafront. The Cambridgeshire invasion this year started with pink t-shirts and literally flooded the seafront. The biggest ever Dorset Walk was underway.

This year we changed the format of the walking, no longer stopping and waiting for the whole group to catch up, we now walked to lunch, then we continued to the end where the coaches filled and moved on one at a time. Thus reducing the wait times and improving the flow through the showers back at camp. Would it work? Will the registers be accurate? What happens if we can’t find all the walkers? More sleepless nights in the planning. Did it work? Yes, perfectly, and if anything greatly improved the speed and quality of the walk.

Day 1 finished in warm July temperatures, perfect for walking and at a speed that meant the Friday night visit to Swanage was much easier with a lot less time pressure. We did have a short hold up while we let a decent sized grass snake move across the path. The evening in Swanage was a little damp, meaning a good proportion of students, after they had paid a premium for seaside fish and chips and being dive bombed by the seagulls, then wasted their parents money in the amusements.

Day 2, the hardest of the 3, started with some Housley yoga to prepare the troops for the day. A good proportion of Lulworth Cove cliff had fallen down onto the beach and had blocked the normal path around the cove, would the route be passable? Is it safe to take 400 people over the rock fall, below the landslip that looked like it was good to go again…?. Plan B – swim across the Cove or Plan C find the alternative route. Plan C seemed most sensible.

This meant a walk back to Lulworth village and a significant climb up and over to the other side of the cove. Do we now walk along the ridge and avoid the zig-zag steps out of Lulworth? No! Down to the other side of the cove and along the start of the range and up one of the top 5 most difficult climbs. It had to be that way, the ‘Facebook Live‘ of broken people emerging from the steps is far too entertaining. Then on to the Travelator, Tyneham for lunch, through Kimmeridge and along the cliff path to the Beast at the end of day. Last year the scene of the ‘weather apocalypse’. This year, beautiful sunshine and the most incredible view (once your have recovered enough to stand up straight). The coach collection worked perfectly (after some momentary tired/emotional/head losses).

Back to camp and then onto the presentation evening. The presentation evening is now one of the best parts of the weekend. A chance to recognise people who have been and participant multiple times; the number of certificates (if I had printed enough), trophies and whisky glasses that we now hand out has increased rapidly and has major impact for those recognised and those aspiring to be. We award two, three and five walks – incredibly the problem is now, what do we award to people who have completed ten!? As part of the recognition Sophie Read unbeknown to me had made a bracelet for every year of the walk and had these mounted for me, as she presented this to me I obviously instantly folded emotionally (as always).

The final day of walking is the longest and can feel the hardest. Again we walked without the regular stops; we got stung, scratched, squelched through the mud and arrived in Swanage. The sun was shining and ice creams were consumed. The final climb, and the descent into Studland begins. This all leading up to the sprint finishes, this divided into school races.

2024 was a another milestone in the Whales household Edward, who turned 8 on the Saturday of the walk, managed to complete all 40 miles for the first time. A very impressive achievement! William, aged 6, also manage 2.5 days and I’m certain is ready for next year.

A few final reflections and observations

Camping is rubbish, highlights included:
- Simon Warburton trying to patch his blow up mattress with electrical tape. “That’s not going to work”… “did it work? No”. The following morning Simon walked the promenade of Weymouth carrying the ‘new mattress’ purchased on arrival to Weymouth. The joys of camping
- The Whites/Sansbys arrived, pitched their tent, camped for one night (some of them), took down the tent and all retreated to the lodge.
People meeting and greeting represented far too much hugging and kissing for my liking – a good handshake is surely enough?
The hired shower block was a great addition
Hanif winning a 3 ft Pooh bear from the amusements does not mean good value for money.
As far as being an England supporter – it is the hope that kills you.
I left stickers for directions, Coe picked them up as he thought they were litter, if you got lost I think you can blame Coe.
The catching game returned – Funnell lost to my 6 year old!
The mosquitoes are keen and they really like Emma K – who also completed 2 full days after quite serious surgery. That was an incredible effort and you should feel very proud of yourself.
AMVC brought 50 plus students for the first ever trip – a record by some distance.
It was also great to see staff/friends that are now bringing their own schools.
The families/ex-students/adults that come are also hugely appreciated and help create what the walk is.
Some of stories I hear of students and staff that are currently impacted by cancer. Some very recently and are now walking in memory of people they have lost is very inspiring and very moving!

A final couple of points:

The support team are just incredible – they work tirelessly. The introduction of Pete Monaghan was a great addition, so positive and enthusiastic.

This year has seen Team Read up the fundraising exploits to include the family Pathfinder walk (just the 46 miles in a day), the Three Peaks challenge (completed in under 24 hours) and this year Sophie made 400 bracelets of the tshirt colours (this alone has raised over £650). I think the family amount is now in excess of £3500! Incredible!!

and, the ‘Toast to Malcolm’ gets bigger, we are going to need a bigger space!

In summary

There is so much to be proud of. Personally, every year the walk destroys me mentally, emotionally and physically, and I love every second of it. It is truly something special. If you have played any part in it, then I thank you. This was the 16th year and has seen the biggest growth to date. Where next? I have no idea, apart from forwards!
The amount raised looks to be approaching £100,000.
The completion of the lodge is happening at great pace – it’s great to be hosting a massive fundraiser and to be investing it at the same time. If not a little busy!
The social media; looking through the comments they all say how proud they are of their children and of their schools.
I invite loads of schools, this year only 6 said yes (Ely College, Prince William, Hampton Gardens, Ken Stimpson Academy, AMVC and Swavesey). Many more didn’t take up the challenge and many hundreds of children missed out. If you are reading this as a student or a parent, the staff that took their school deserve appreciation.
The ‘yes schools’ and these students stand out, they said yes and they participated. They all have every right to feel proud of them themselves – they earnt that feeling.

See you next year.

Damien