As you know, I am about to experience my very first walking day… but it is entirely possible that it will also be the last, at least in anything like its current format.

As I understand it, the idea of a walking day is that it is a public act of witness to our faith. As such, it involves walking on public thoroughfares which requires traffic management measures and road closures. In the past this has been done with the support of the police, through PCSOs. That support is no longer available. Barbara Hamilton has been working very hard, liaising with the Borough Council and the Highways Agency, to ensure that the walk can go ahead. But we have been told that it will only be possible if we engage a traffic management company, at an estimated cost of £500-600. The school are also concerned about holding the walk without a police presence.

So, where is the £500-600 to come from? We will take a collection at church and there will be some income from the tea room, but I’m not sure how far that will get us. If we (the church) decided simply to pay that from our own resources we could safeguard the walk this year, but what about next year and the years after that?

We also need a minimum number of volunteer marshals to line the route. I’m not sure that we have found them yet!

As you may know, Stockton Heath faced a very similar dilemma – as reported in the Warrington Guardian. In the end, the event went ahead, but it’s a salutary warning – we don’t have the resources that the combined churches of Stockton Heath have.

I don’t want to sound alarmist or defeatist, but these issues will need to be addressed if walking day is to go ahead on Saturday and in subsequent years.

Comments and suggestions welcome!