Paul's Isle of White trek will be in a good cause

May 12 2009 By Mark Goode

A Staines man who once planned to walk around the Isle of White with his late wife, is to take on the challenge in her memory.

Paul Smith, 48, a window fitter from Berryscroft Road, Staines, will be carrying out the five day long sponsored walk in June with his twenty two-year-old son Aaron along with six friends and family members.

The 67-mile hike is to raise money for the Sam Beare Hospice in Weybridge, which cared for Paul's wife Suzanne until she died in February of liver cancer at the age of 49.

Paul said: "It is quite important to me. We used to walk everywhere, and a couple of years ago it crossed her mind to walk around the island. We never got round to it because that was around the time she started to become ill."

The couple would have been married for 26 years this month and used to go on regular walks around the countryside.

Paul said the walk will help him to remember her, adding she regularly gave to charity and always helped others in need. He said: "She was the sort of person who had no trouble in doing anything for anybody, and I would like to think we were on the same wave length. I am just following on from what she would have done by raising money for the hospice."

Paul is an amateur painter, and the couple used to go on long hikes partly for inspiration, and also to exercise their two dogs.

Speaking about his loss, Paul said: "It has been difficult, because although I have got my son living with me it is not quite the same. Coming home from work after 26 years and having somebody there to greet you, and then suddenly not having that is a hard nut to crack."

He said he is coping with the loss by immersing himself in his work and keeping busy with gym training at the Thames Club, in Staines, for four nights a week in preparation.

To sponsor Paul, visit the club in Wheatsheaf Lane, and pick up a sponsorship form.