7 Apr 2022 Community

The Big Ben to Kirkburton challenge to raise funds for four charities including The Kirkwood

On the 9th April 2022 a team of nine friends from Kirkburton will be taking on a huge challenge, walking from Big Ben in London all the way back to Yorkshire – all in memory of Ben Jebson, who died in 2019 aged just 35.  

Ben, who was a keen cricketer and lived in Kirkburton all his life, suffered from cancer and subsequent effects of a stem cell transplant. After managing his condition for many years, Ben sadly died in August 2019. 

Ben has left behind a young family, including his beloved wife Lucy, 33, and two daughters, Frankie aged four and Bobbie aged two.  

Taking on the challenge Lucy said: "We are incredibly excited about taking on this challenge in memory of Ben. We know it's going to be tough, and we've all done some training to be ready for it."  

The walk will take the walkers seven days to complete and spans 182 mile. The hope for the group is that they can cover 17-31 miles a day, with various stops along the route.  

The challenge is raising money for four charities, including The Kirkwood, and the group have set an ambitious fundraising target of £20,000 in memory of Ben! 

The team of walkers, which also includes well known chef Tim Bilton, are already well on the way to their fundraising target thanks in large part to Simon Docherty (owner of Harvey’s bar and kitchen) who took on the Goggins 4x4x48 challenge last year. Thanks to his efforts they have already raised an amazing £11,000.

Lucy went on to explain how The Kirkwood helped care for Ben three years ago.  

She said: "At the beginning of 2019 Ben was struggling to walk. The Kirkwood’s palliative care team came to see us and helped us. The hope was that Ben would be with The Kirkwood when it came to the end. However, at the time The Kirkwood was full and so that's why we had to go to Barnsley. He was only there for a short time. However, we wanted to support both charities as they had cared for him.  

"The palliative care team did help us and explained what was available to Ben which was great.” 

Ben and his family had experienced The Kirkwood’s care previously, when Ben's mum Carolyn was cared for by our dedicated nurses in 2015. 

Lucy said: "Ben's mum Carolyn did also sadly die on The Kirkwood's In-Patient Unit in Dalton back in 2015 after they had cared for her. We both knew how fantastic The Kirkwood was and still is."  

Bringing it back to the challenge this weekend, it was Lucy and Ben's friends that suggested doing it.  

Lucy said: "It was one of our friends that approached me and said about doing a challenge. I said ‘yes that sounds good’! They suggested walking from Big Ben to Kirkburton. Ben being his name and the fact he loved Kirkburton, and didn't want to live anywhere else it just made sense.  

"At the time I was 6 months pregnant and so I wasn't able to do it. They had it all planned for May 2020 and then COVID-19 struck so it got called off. So this has been two years in the making and we are very excited for it."  

If you want to find out more about the challenge and how to donate visit: www.bigbentoburton.co.uk