Veronica Goddard

..………..by a gritty young woman who survived the London bombings on 7th July, 2005. Gill Hicks lost both legs in the blast and for some time looked as though she wouldn’t live through the trauma.

The idea behind the walk is to encourage thoughts for our fellow men and is about engaging  with people, regardless of race, creed or colour, talking to people you might otherwise never meet or talk to.  She and her supporters are walking the walk and stopping off along the way to take refreshments with ordinary townsfolk, chatting en route with anyone who cares enough to join the walk for a time, whether for 10 minutes, an hour or for the whole of the walk. I joined at the Civic Centre, where Councillor Christine Smith and I put together a Mansfield District Council posy of roses, picked by Christine from the Civic Centre rose bed and wrapped in the silver foil from my pack of mints! We walked to the Stanhope Centre on Bridge Street and after speeches by Mayor, Tony Egginton and Gill, we went outside to launch balloons with our hopes and aspirations written on attached cards. My admiration for Gill knows no bounds. What a lady!