Walkabout raises funds and awareness for Daisy Appeal

Paul Schofield pictured with the Daisy Appeal group at Beverley Minster.

THE Daisy Appeal went walkabout with award-winning tour guide Paul Schofield to raise money and awareness of the charity and of some of the region’s hidden history.

Some of the group of more than 40 people were tourists in their own town as Paul took them on a trip through the streets and alleyways of Beverley. Others were surprised that Paul was there at all. He’s known more for his walking tours of Hull and he led an inaugural Daisy Appeal walk through the Old Town during the summer.

But Beverley has been a big part of Paul’s repertoire since he started his business in 1988, and he admitted that even after more than 30 years he finds new things to talk about on every tour.

He said: “I never stop looking and learning and I have spotted things today that I will research for use on future tours and talks. You find out a lot just from talking to people who come on the tours.

“Often the people who don’t know much about an area are those who live there – the visitors have usually done a bit of research.”

The latest walk began at North Bar Within and took in some of the lost pubs of Beverley as it progressed to Saturday Market before continuing through side streets and alleyways to the Guildhall, the Minster and finally to Cerutti 2 for lunch.

Participants paid £27.50 to join the tour, which included a donation to the Daisy Appeal as it continues its work to establish the Hull and Humber area as a UK-leading region for the detection of cancer, heart disease and dementia. The current focus is on completing the £8.2m radiochemistry and cyclotron unit, enabling the production of radioactive tracers at Castle Hill next year.

Claire Levy, Fundraiser for the Daisy Appeal, said the charity is planning to organise further walks as part of a varied programme of events aimed at enabling a cross section of people to support the campaign.

In an attempt to boost donations the Daisy Appeal has signed up to The Big Give Christmas Challenge, which is the UK’s biggest online match funding campaign. For seven days it offers supporters of participating charities the opportunity to have their donation doubled on theBigGive.org.uk.

This year’s window will open at midday on Tuesday 3 December and donors will then have until midday on Tuesday 10 December to make their contributions.

Claire said: “The Daisy Appeal has already raised millions of pounds to fund cutting-edge research and state-of-the-art equipment and facilities which will serve people throughout the Humber region and we are always looking for new ideas and opportunities to raise money.

“The walks with Paul give people a chance to learn about their surroundings and about the Appeal and they’re proving very popular so I’m sure we’ll add more of them to our programme.

“The Big Give presents us with a fantastic opportunity to double the value of donations. We are raising awareness among people who are organising events in aid of the Daisy Appeal now, and we hope more people will be encouraged to join in when they realise they can double their money.”

To find out more about the Daisy Appeal please visit www.daisyappeal.org