Organised annually by our friends and supporters in the Rotary Club of Darwen, the Darwen Tower Trudge takes in a delightful route around the reservoirs and hills of Tockholes, Roddlesworth and Darwen, including the moorland heights of Lyons Den, Darwen moor and of course Darwen Tower itself, otherwise known as the Jubillee Tower.

This is a major event for the Rotarians of Darwen, who provide all the organisation, route maps, marshalls and ’sweep team’.

A great many local organisations and individuals take part in this event gaining sponsorship for their efforts, with this year a noticeably large contingent taking part from the Brownies, Guides and Scouts.

The start time of 08.45hrs was met with warm weather and sunny skies, which as the morning progressed turned increasingly to grey skies and heavy rain, which made the going hard for the 85x official walkers, their numbers swelled as usual by many others accompanying the ’official’ walkers.

Our teams role, as in previous years was to provide on scene standby rescue cover, and to this end 17x team members in our four team Landrover Ambulances kept watch over the sponsored walkers progress, including small parties of team members on hill top locations.

Apart from a very few minor cuts and bruises, plus of course wet feet for most due to the heavy rain, the event passed without a hitch, and has hopefully raised a considerable sum of money for local charities.

The team is pleased to support this local to Darwen event and we look forward to a return to the usual sunny weather next year which in most previous years graces this well organised event.