MRS HENDERSON PRESENTS A YEAR-LONG FUNDRAISING WALK
Bath Chronicle - 28 December 2005
Most of us will undertake some kind of holiday or expedition during 2006. But Jannina Henderson hopes to spend most of the year on a mammoth 4,500-mile charity effort.
The 55-year-old, who lives in Bathwick Hill, plans to set off on January 1 on a trek around the coastline of the British Isles.
She will be accompanied by her two dogs, Jago and Tressa, and sleep in a camper van driven by friends and family.
Mrs Henderson, a retired actor and teacher who moved to Bath from London six years ago said she had been wanting to do this for a number of years.
"It has been an ambition of mine, and I thought it would be a wonderful way to raise money for charity. I really enjoy walking, and thought that walking around the coast of Britain would be the ultimate challenge."
She hopes to raise £100,000, which will be divided between four charities: the Woodland Trust, the RNLI's Lizard Lifeboat station in Cornwall, the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) and the Topsy Foundation's Orphan Care Development Programme.
She has distributed a sponsorship form to family and friends, but hopes to raise most money through her website www.walkingthewalk2006.com.
Her aim is to finish the walk in ten to 11 months by walking an average of 16 miles a day.
"The amount of time it takes will depend on weather and fitness. Hopefully, I will only take a day off every seven to ten days," she said.
"I usually walk three miles every morning with the dogs anyway, but I have done lots of long-distance trails recently.
"I have also been doing some weights and exercises to strengthen my legs and shoulders."
Mrs Henderson said another reason to walk around the coast was that she loved walking by the sea. "It is an amazing place to walk as there is constant change. I regularly visit Cornwall because it has such a beautiful coastline," she said.
"But although I regularly walk on the Cornish coast, I have seen very little of the rest of the British coastline.
"We as a nation always seem to holiday in a few select places, or go abroad, and we miss so much of our own coast."
WALKING THE COAST OF BRITAIN FOR FUNDS
Chichester Observer - Thursday 19 January, 2006
JANINA HENDERSON, who is walking the coast of the UK to raise money for charity, arrived in Selsey last weekend to take a brief rest with her sister who lives at East Beach.
“I can’t ever stop walking for long though,” said Janina (55), “or I won’t get started again!”
On Saturday, she took a walk to Bognor and back, a nostalgic trip, but on Sunday she took the traditional day of rest.
Janina is walking on average 15/16 miles a day and the entire trip, from Lyme Regis to Scotland and back, will take her over 4,500 to 5,000 miles on foot.
The trip to Bognor Regis will take her back in time to the 1960s when as a young actor, she worked in repertory theatre at the Butlin’s there: “I got my provisional Equity card while I was there. I felt I had truly entered the profession,” she said. After acting, Janina became a continuity announcer for TV and has done voice work for radio and TV. Walking has become her passion and this epic trip, which will take her until October/November this year, joins a number of tough walks she has completed.
These include round the coast of Cornwall, Costwold’s Way and the Wye Valley: “I love the ethos of walking,” she said.
“Sometimes it is tough, when there is sleet, fog and rain, but when the sun shines and I can walk for hours, it is wonderful.
“Mud makes things slower. A walk may be on the flat, but the mud really slows you down.”
Janina has to use ferries occasionally, as the coast does not always allow passage. At night, she joins her van which is decorated with the title of her epic endeavour ‘walking the walk’ and is driven mostly by her husband Tom, and sometimes by friends.
“
Occasionally, I get to somewhere like Selsey where I can beg a bed from my sister, Jemma, and stay for a short while.”
She left the coastal village on Monday, and while there she praised the work of the RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution), such as that of the Selsey Lifeboat Station: “They are such courageous men and women and the work they do is invaluable,” she said.
The RNLI is one of the charities that will benefit from her fundraising walk. Others are the Woodland Trust, Tospy Aids Orphanage in Africa and the WSPA.
“In particular for the latter, I am raising money to stop the trade in bear bile.”
Walking with her are her dogs Jago, a cross-collie and Tressa, a cross labrador and collie: “Tressa is a young dog and she looks like a whippet, but I think she will fatten out a bit as she gets older.
“I alternate them. Jago is a bit older, but they both love walking with me.” Janina’s website can be found at www.walkingthewalk2006.com. Details of how to help her in her fundraising can be found on the site.
TREK AROUND THE SHORELINE
The Courier - Tuesday 11th April 2006
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