A COVENTRY man is marking a milestone birthday by walking coast to coast in support of a project to build classrooms in Zambia.
Canon Gavin Kibble MBE hopes to raise £60,000 on his 60th birthday for charity, Feed The Hungry, as he completes the 200-mile trans-Pennine trek across in England, in May.
The route, between St Bees Head in Lancashire and Robin Hood Bay in Yorkshire, is expected to take 13 days and will be a particularly significant challenge for Gavin, who suffered a heart attack two years ago.
He said: “The shopping had not been a particularly pleasant experience because I found myself stopping at the end of each aisle trying to catch my breath.
“I got home and my wife said are you OK? I said I probably just need to go to bed because I’m exhausted and she wanted to call 111.
“When they heard the symptoms they said I needed to get straight to the hospital.
“Within an hour I was on an ECG and it transpired I was having a heart attack which took me by surprise.”
Since his recovery he has been following a new diet and fitness regime as part of a Coventry University Research Study Group, which has left him feeling ‘ten years younger.’
Gavin, who founded Coventry Foodbank 13 years ago, became Projects Director of Feed The Hungry when the two charities merged in 2021.
He went on to talk about being inspired to do 60 ‘significant’ things to mark his birthday, with the coast to coast walk always being high on his to do list.
After visiting Zambia in 2019, he became motivated to help provide vital resources including food, education, and IT infrastructure for those in need.
“In 2019 I visited a school in Mazabuka in Zambia, which caters for children orphaned by the impact of the AIDS pandemic.
“Feed The Hungry provides regular meals for these children but that’s not enough.
“They need an education and to do that we need classrooms. The charity has been supporting the school since 2016, helping to pay for teaching staff, equipment and food.
“They also require a functioning IT suite to provide IT lessons for their children.
“I will try to help change the lives of these children by walking across England. Please partner with me on this amazing adventure by sponsoring each mile or each leg of this walk.”
Email [email protected] or call 01455 618 455 for more information on sponsoring a section of the walk.
Visit https://feedthehungry.org.uk/ for more information on how to donate.
