Fundraisers get set to light up the town

Wearing their best PJs and with pairs of bunny ears proudly placed upon their heads walkers will light up Bury St Edmunds on Saturday, 4 March, as they pace the streets to raise funds for a local hospice.

With more than 1,000 people have signed up to take part in the postponed 2022’s Jaynic’s Girls Night Out walk, in aid of St Nicholas Hospice Care, hopes are high that the fundraiser will raise thousands of pounds for the charity, as walkers tackle either a six or 11.2-mile route around  Bury St Edmunds.

If you want to take part in the event you can still sign-up for the walk, which is supported for the third time by main sponsor Jaynic. You can sign up online at www.girlsnightoutwalk.co.uk until 9am on Thursday, 2 March. After this you can sign up on the night, just head to The Athenaeum on Angel Hill, Bury St Edmunds, from 5.45pm.  

The walkers taking part in the event, which was postponed in September 2022 due to the death of Queen Elizabeth II, will leave Angel Hill at 6.30pm.

Charlie De-Moore, hospice’s events manager, said: “Girls Night Out is our biggest fundraising event of the year, and it makes a huge difference to the work we do to support people facing dying, caring and grief across West Suffolk and Thetford.

“It feels amazing to be able to say that on the night we will have more than 1,000 walkers taking part raising much needed funds for St Nic’s. Every step they take and every pound they raise will make a difference and we are so grateful that people have once again got behind the event.

“There has been a huge amount of organisation behind the scenes to ensure everything runs smoothly, and I’m so grateful to all the volunteers who are helping out with everything from marshalling to handing out water along the route.

“If you see our walkers on the night please give them a wave, a cheer and some support for what they are doing. I know it will be appreciated.”

Walkers will start arriving on Angel Hill from 5.45pm before the walk starts at 6.30pm, when the sea of bunny ears sets off along the two routes, finishing back at Angel Hill by 11pm.

For those taking part in the walk, which is also sponsored by Greene King, Havebury and Chassis Cab, there will also be entertainment at the start and along the route. On Angel Hill there will be a fun Zumba warm-up and there will be refreshments at various pit stops along the way too, plus a choir at the finish line.

There will also be memory boards on Angel Hill and at the charity’s hospice building in Hardwick Lane where people can remember loved ones who have died.

Registration costs £20, and includes a pair of flashing bunny ears, as well as some cake, a hot drink at the end of the walk, and you’ll also get a medal.

You must be aged 14 to take part and those between 14 and 17 must walk with someone over the age of 18.