Walking for Life in memory of ‘Gandad’

Our family-friendly sponsored walk follows the Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation towpath. There are two routes to choose from: the 12km ramble begins at Paper Mill Lock, Little Baddow and the more demanding 24km route starts at Heybridge Basin. Both finish at the Teledyne e2v offices in Waterhouse Lane, Chelmsford.

Flick and Spencer Collingwood and their daughters, Lilly and Cadi, are supporting this charity after we cared for Spencer’s dad, Gordon, or ‘Gandad’ as he is affectionately called by the family.

Gordon’s health rapidly declined after he was diagnosed with brain, bone and lung cancer in July 2024. He needed care from Farleigh from February 2025 until he sadly died in our Inpatient Unit, surrounded by his family, on Sunday 16 March.

Flick explains how our care and support exceeded her family’s expectations, which is why she is taking part in Walk for Life with her daughters, raising over £500.

“As a family, we cannot imagine what we would have done without the incredible care, respect and dignity that every nurse and volunteer gave Gandad during his sadly short stay with Farleigh.

The level of care went way above and beyond what could be expected for him, and for us as a family visiting as well. The incredible nurses even brought in a West Ham coloured blanket to make Gandad feel more at home.

It literally made all the difference to his wife, Chrisy, who had selflessly been caring for Gandad at home for many months until it became simply too much and additional medical care and support was needed to make him comfortable.

His last few weeks of care at Farleigh’s Inpatient Unit were faultless and made Gandad truly settled, even with his pain, and he knew he was in the right place to be looked after in every way.

We can’t even imagine how much harder it could have been without Farleigh’s support. Because he was at the hospice, he was cared for with dignity up until the moment he passed away as well as afterwards, which we, as a family, are forever grateful for.

We want to raise money for Farleigh Hospice as a way of saying thank you for Gandad’s care. We have completed walks and runs before for this charity with my eldest daughter, Lilly, as we had close friends that needed the hospice’s support and care at their worst moments. Farleigh has always been close to our hearts.

When Lilly, aged 10, heard about Walk for Life, she asked if we could take part and walk 12km for Gandad. The furthest she has walked/run before has been 5km, so this will be an extra challenge for her and she has set herself a target of raising £500.

Cadi is only 5 so she's a bit too little to complete the whole route. She will be meeting me and Lilly near the end so she can do the last kilometre or so for her ‘Gandad with wings’ as she explains to everyone.

Lilly and I are most looking forward to meeting other families at Walk for Life who are supporting the hospice like us. We’ll be using the walk to remember Gandad, as well as smashing our fundraising target as much as we possibly can.

Signing up for Walk for Life and collecting sponsorship for Farleigh is such a simple and easy thing to do… but the difference that can be made to those patients in the hospice’s care is huge. We believe it’s life-changing as it makes their final weeks settled and surrounded with care and comfort.

The thought of Farleigh not existing at a family’s worst moment is unimaginable. This charity couldn’t continue to support so many without this type of fundraising, as they simply don’t get enough funding to offer the exceptional care that they do.

We would ask everyone to support Farleigh as you simply never know when you may need their support and it takes each and every one of us to keep this charity funded and operational.

Lilly has already passed her fundraising target and is encouraging others to sign up for Walk for Life too. In her words, 'if you can, you should support Farleigh Hospice as you will be helping others in so many ways'.”

It costs £20 for adults and £5 for under 16s to sign up for Walk for Life before 4pm on 7 May. Walkers can pay on the day at Heybridge Basin or Paper Mill Lock, but higher prices will apply. For more information and to sign up now, click here.

(Article first published 5 April 2025)