70-year-old walks 70 miles in under 24 hours to help rebuild damaged sports pavilion in Silchester

A 70-year-old man walking 70 miles in under 24 hours was just one of the many fundraising events that occurred in Silchester on the first weekend of the month.

Silchester 24, which took place on September 2 and 3, was a 24-hour community ‘sporting extravaganza’ event aimed at raising enough money as possible to help the pavilion refurbishment project reach its target of £75,000.

The Silchester Pavilion was badly damaged in a fire last July, and since then several of the village’s groups and organisations have held fundraising events to get the money together to rebuild and refurbish the community asset.

Peter Howells, the chairman of the Silchester Sports Pavilion Charity, decided to embark on the tough physical challenge of walking 70 miles in under 24 hours.

He completed the challenge just a couple of days after his 70th birthday.

He said: “The 70-mile walk was a huge success. The target time was 23 hours and we did it in 22 and three quarters so we were well ahead of time.

“I was very well supported with a number of walkers for each lap.”

Mr Howells completed 10 laps of the seven-mile Silchester Fun Run circuit and was joined by at least six walkers on every lap, even the ones that occurred in the middle of the night.

He was very grateful for all the support from fellow walkers which helped him complete the mammoth task.

“It kept the momentum going and it made it a lot of fun actually,” he said.

“It was hard but enjoyable. The support made it all the worthwhile.”

Alongside Mr Howell’s walk, Silchester 24 also featured several other sporting events such as a six-a-side football tournament, a team heptathlon, children’s cricket, fitness and yoga classes, boxing and archery sessions and touch rugby.

“Silchester came alive for the weekend,” Mr Howells added.

He said that the weekend has already raised £12,000, but with more money pouring it, he is hoping that in total it will have raised around £15,000.

This leaves the pavilion refurbishment project only £15,000 short of its target and despite this, it is hoped that building work will begin on the pavilion later this month.

The Silchester Sports Pavilion Charity is hoping to secure more grant funding and run more fundraising events to reach the target.