Walk for health, walk for fun – Walk for Awareness!

A Guide: How to organise your walk

Take action for this year’s Pituitary Awareness Month and ‘Walk for Awareness’. Whether you walk a mile, ten miles or walk a marathon, we need you to get involved!

Pituitary Awareness Month will be held in October 2011. Last year we saw various walks and other events across the country. We need even more of you to take action now than ever before! Organising a walk is a great way to get your friends, family and work colleagues involved too and collect sponsorship for your efforts.

10 ideas to get you in your stride:

  • Stroll a mile.
  • Midnight marathon walk.
  • Organise a walkathon at school.
  • Three-legged walk.
  • Walk 10 miles on a treadmill in the gym.
  • For a tougher challenge, climb a mountain or hike a hill.
  • Walk 5k around your local park followed by a picnic.
  • Organise a beach walk and take in scenic views and sea air.

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For any further information or help please contact Jay Sheppard,

Fundraising Officer on 0117 370 1314 or email:

Registered charity number 1058968

  • Lunch walk - get away from the office at lunch time and walk a mile with colleagues.
  • Make a day of it and stroll around the grounds of a National Trust property or visit a National Park or nature reserve in your area.
  • Organise a sponsored pub crawl, hold a bucket collection from pub to pub but be sure to obtain the necessary collection permits as well as obtaining permission from the pubs in advance

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For any further information or help please contact Jay Sheppard,

Fundraising Officer on 0117 370 1314 or email:

Registered charity number 1058968

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For any further information or help please contact Jay Sheppard,

Fundraising Officer on 0117 370 1314 or email:

Registered charity number 1058968

Get Planning!

1. Make a decision

  • Where would you like your sponsored

walk to take place,and what distance?

  • Make a list of people who may take part (e.g. friends, family, colleagues) or provide sponsorship.
  • Do you need help to organise the event, maybe you could set up a committee? Give people specific tasks to help you organise your walk.
  • It’s good practice to inform the proposed venue’s landowners/managers or representative bodies,(e.g. local authority, National Trust) of your event.

2. Make adate

  • Think of the best time for your event. Check what’s on to avoid possible clashes with other local events.
  • Make sure you allow yourself plenty of time to organise the event. You may find creating a timetable and a checklist helpful to track your progress and manage your event.

3. Money Matters

  • How much money would you like to raise from your event? Make an event budget -consider your potential income sources being realistic and the costs associated with your event. This will help you find out your net profit from the event.

4. Keep on track

  • When planning your event route, remember to think about the environment and the impact on local residents, roads, andothers. Ensure that the impact of your event is minimal (e.g. keep to footpaths, close gates properly, do not climb over walls and fences) and check that the area is not a Site of Special Scientific Interest, or a nature reserve.
  • Take into consideration the distance of your event and the numbers of people that will be involved. A high influx of people can put a heavy demand on local facilities, such as toilets, and you may need to ask permission from local amenities beforehand (e.g. pubs to use their toilets). Consider the availability of toilets and refreshments on route.
  • Time the event for the least disturbance, Use the most suitable means of transport for the area and consider parking facilities - check what is available and plan accordingly. If your event is going to attract a significant number of cars to an area, let the police know well in advance. It might also be good to consider setting up carpooling and note that if the ending point is not the starting point; rides back to the starting point will need to be arranged.
  • Consider if you need marshals along the route to guide people and ensure they are fully briefed about the event and the emergency procedure. Ensure that there is adequate signage along the route and provide participants with a map of the route.
  • We advise that you issue each person with a registration form, in which it is made clear the distance of the event, the level difficulty, and what fitness levels and/or training is required for the event. If a participant is under the age of 18, then parental consent is required. A disclaimer should also be signed by all participants before the event. (We have ageneric disclaimer and registration form available upon request.)
  • Written and verbal briefings to the participants and marshals are important, and should be given well in advance of the event. These ought to cover event procedures, amenities, (e.g. refreshments, toilets, etc.) safety, equipment, training, vehicles, environmental impact and road safety. Explain from the outset what will be expected in terms of levels of physical ability, equipment (e.g. suitable clothing, foot wear) and the nature of the environment.
  • On the day ensure you have enough people to help and that you have organised effective communication between marshals and organisers. You may also wish to have a registration process and also organising a cash float and plan for cash security.

5. Keep it safe and legal!

  • Risk assessment

It is important before you undertake an event of any size that you undertake a risk assessment, to identify possible hazards, severity of risk and possibility. Further guidance can be found by visiting the Health and Safety Executive’s Website on

  • Insurance

Organisers of events need to ensure their event has sufficient public liability cover. The Pituitary Foundation’s Public Liability Insurance will not cover an event which you are organising in aid of The Foundation, however please do contact Lansdowne Woodward Ltd on 01202 874 989 if you wish to obtain coverage.

  • Collections

If you plan to collect money on route during your event, you must obtain a licence from your local authority.

You must use sealed collecting devices.All collectors must also carry and displaya badge, (with their name, the period of the collection and location) and a letter of authority, clearly stating that they are collecting money for The Pituitary Foundation. Collectors must be 16 years old or over. (We can provide you with sealed collecting devices, badges and a letter of authority). A local authority will ask for you to inform them of the total proceeds after the date of the collection, and how much money each collector made, so you must keep a record of this information. Collecting devices oughtto be emptied, counted and recorded by two individuals, wherever possible.

6. Contingency plans

  • Bear in mind that the weather in the UK is unpredictable and dramatic changes may result in your participants being at risk. Make provision for extreme weather and establish safety considerations. Be prepared to cancel or close down the event and make arrangements to provide information in the event of cancellation due to extreme weather conditions. Everyone (organisers, marshals and participants) must understand the procedure to follow for the closedown of an event.
  • Emergency services ought to be alerted

in the event of an incident.

7. Publicity

  • To help raise the profile of your event you could draw up a publicity plan to include: distributing posters, flyers, contacting your local newspaper, and approaching your local radio station.
  • Think of who you know and if they can raise the profile of your sponsored walk. You may wish to consider social media (e.g. Facebook) to publicise your event.

8. Adding to your fundraising pot

  • “I’m never doing this, it’s too hard!” If some of your friends, family or colleagues don’t wish to walk or get sponsorship, they could help you in other ways such as, baking cakes and selling them before the walk, or organising a raffle after the event.
  • You could consider approaching local businesses and asking for sponsorship in return for printing their logo on your T-shirts, or asking them to donate gifts in kind for the event.
  • What about offering a small prize to the person who raises the most sponsorship money?
  • Don’t be disheartened if some people say no – don’t give up, keep going!

9. After your event

  • Remember to acknowledge and thank everyone who helped to facilitate the event. Think about what worked well and what didn’t? This will help you plan for your next event!
  • Sending in your money: Send a cheque made payable to The Pituitary Foundation together with your completed Money Return Form, (in your pack), to The Pituitary Foundation, 86 Colston Street, Bristol, BS15BB or visit to donate online using a debit or credit card.

10. How we canhelp

To help you make your event a success, we can provide you with:

  • Posters to help publicise your Walk for Awareness event.
  • Help with creating a press release for your local newspapers.
  • T-shirts and collecting tins.
  • Sponsorship forms and advice on how to set up an online fundraising page (
  • Literature about the work of The Pituitary Foundation.
  • Any further help and advice you need to support your fundraising event.

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For any further information or help please contact Jay Sheppard,

Fundraising Officer on 0117 370 1314 or email:

Registered charity number 1058968