Walk for Chest, Heart and Stroke Scotland
If you’ve been following our journey through our blog or social media, you’ll know that our team thrives on a good challenge. This time, it was personal.
Elsa, one of our incredible Visitor Experience Managers, proposed a heartfelt initiative: to raise funds for Chest, Heart and Stroke Scotland in support of our dear friend and colleague who suffered a stroke earlier this year. We wanted to show our support in a meaningful way—by walking alongside him on his road to recovery.
So, we set ourselves a bold target: walk 1000 miles during the month of April.
But here’s the twist—we seriously underestimated ourselves. In just the first week, we clocked an astonishing 916.55 miles!
Fueled by this momentum and inspired by our colleague’s strength, (and a surprise visit) we decided to raise the bar with a new goal of 4000 miles.
This challenge isn’t just about numbers. It’s about raising awareness, supporting a vital cause, and embracing the benefits of fresh air, movement, and community spirit.
Why 4000 miles?
In true Scottish spirit, we referenced the iconic Proclaimers song ‘500 miles,’ where the term is sung eight times throughout the track. Altogether, this totals to 4000 miles – and there we had our target!
As the weeks progressed, a number of different challenges were brought in to keep our motivation and spirits high! In week two, a water themed photo challenge was set. This stunning snapshot (left) of Arran by Visitor Assistant, Stewart took home the prize.
At the start of week three, our mileage rose to an astounding 2595.023. By the end of the week, the target had nearly been smashed, with an incredible 3847 miles. To finish strong, we introduced two final mini challenges for the remainder of April:
Mini Challenge One: Who can raise the most money?
Mini Challenge Two: A picture challenge, with the best picture winning a prize.
Final results
We are delighted to announce that we walked a staggering 5213.72 miles and raised a phenomenal £1230 (and counting!) for Chest, Heart and Stoke Scotland! We cannot thank each and every one of our team members enough for the incredible effort they have all put in.
A huge thank you goes to our Visitor Experience Manager, Elsa and Retail Manager, James for organising this competition, keeping us on track and crunching the numbers behind the scenes.
Elsa chatted to us about the inspiration behind the challenge and the achievement:
“Choosing to do this in the form of a walking challenge for charity was inspired by similar previous initiatives we’ve run with the team over the years. We are thrilled to have done this in support of Chest, Heart and Stroke Scotland, an amazing charity that supports people facing such life changing challenges. The team have been so invested in this initiative from the word go, and it has been great to see them getting out and about to get their miles in. I am so proud of the efforts of everyone that has taken part. They have all done a phenomenal job to walk such an incredible distance and to raise money for Chest, Heart and Stroke Scotland and it doesn’t hurt that we’ve had fun along the way!”
🌟 Top Fundraiser: Huge congratulations to Laura, who raised an incredible £155!
🥇 Top Walker: A massive shout-out to Daniel, who walked an amazing 403 miles in just one month!
👏 Honorable mentions to Caroline (340.15 miles), Al (316.9 miles), and Freya (300 miles) for their outstanding efforts.
📸 Final Photo Competition Winner: Congratulations to Archie, Darcy, Freya, and Molly for their fantastic photo from Arthur’s Seat, proudly pointing out “SWE”!
If you would like to support our fundraising and donate to Chest, Heart and Stroke Scotland, our donation page is still live:
https://www.justgiving.com/page/tswe-4-chss
Slàinte!