Tom’s Trek 2022

So, Jane and I, along with our dog Moses, are setting off on another sponsored walk for ZANE. Little did we know when we undertook our first walk from London to Edinburgh, that some thirteen years later we would still be walking for ZANE, having clocked over 2,900 miles.

It is the unwavering support and encouragement of you, ZANE’s loyal supporters, that drives us to continue walking. That, and because the situation in Zimbabwe is more desperate now than it was when we first started walking thirteen years ago. We simply can’t afford not to walk; the hungry and helpless in Zimbabwe rely on ZANE to survive.

Life in Zimbabwe is a devastating cycle of fighting for survival. With elections looming next year, the fight is likely to get harder. So we walk to put food in the cupboards of impoverished pensioners; to provide them with basic medication for hypertension, diabetes, asthma; we walk to show them that they have not been forgotten. We walk to send a message that we understand, it could so easily be us.

Please know that we never take for granted the loyalty and generosity of ZANE supporters; it is your donations that make our work possible. Funds raised are spent cautiously and methodically by our dedicated and steadfast team in Zimbabwe.

Thank you

Tom Benyon OBE

Day 14: Runnymede to Walton-on-Thames

The Mystery of Faith Alec Douglas-Home, prime minister from 1963 to 1964, and a devout member of the CoE reticent, was once cornered in a lift by a woman who roared at him, “Have you been saved?”  A nervous Douglas-Home said thanks for asking and that he thought he had. “Then why aren’t you leaping …

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Day 13: Eton to Runnymede

The penultimate day, spent with delightful ZANE supporters. We discussed a range of subjects, including Brexit and the current political turmoil. We ended up in Runnymede, where the Magna Carta was signed. When they get their faces out of screens, I wonder if the young are taught the importance of this vital key to history …

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Day 12: Marlow to Eton

Trust No One I have just read a remarkable book, The Great Post Office Scandal by Nick Wallis. The Post Office, that core member of the establishment – slightly dull, yet a deeply respected British institution – prosecuted around 900 sub-postmasters for theft, false accounting and fraud. After a vast court case, it was found that 99 …

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Day 11: Henley to Marlow

Dry and a beautiful walk. Chains of pleasure boats. I wonder if I would be bored on a boat. I think I would be. I was going blind recently. Seriously I was unable to read, and it got worse quickly. Then a consultant in Oxford lasered my eyes; once I was blind, and now I …

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