CISS walkers brave the elements

24 Sep 2007

Around 40 steelworkers, police drivers, their families and friends braved driving rain and wind last Sunday to complete a 52-mile sponsored walk.

The previous day, almost 120 walkers – including employees from Corus Port Talbot and South Wales Police – had taken part in the first six-mile section of a two-day hike from Briton Ferry to Brecon.

“Saturday’s weather wasn’t bad, but Sunday was horrendous,” said Scott Johnson, one of the organisers from Corus’s Steel & Slab section.   The walkers who completed the whole route stayed overnight at Clyngwyn Farm Bunkhouse and tents. 

The aim of the event was to raise money for CISS - Cancer Information and Support Services. 

Corus funded the logistics and provided £5,000 sponsorship, as well a community award of £2,000 towards CISS’s literature costs.

The idea was dreamt up by the Corus workers, who were later joined by the police’s Bridgend-based Driving School which, as well as supplying walkers, also provided two backup minibuses and two outriders.

CISS was set up in Swansea in 1993 to help cancer sufferers, their carers and families.  Three years ago, another branch was opened in Neath due to the high volume of calls the service was receiving from the area.

It has grown from a staff of eight volunteers with 350 clients to more than 90 volunteers supporting more than 12,000 people last year alone.  In total, CISS has helped more than 65,000 cancer victims and their families over the past 14 years.

Scott Johnson added: “We were delighted with the response.  The walk was completed by mostly men, but there were a few women and the youngest person there was 14-year-old Gabby Morgan – who managed the whole distance.”