Remembering how The Star Walk became a family tradition across generations
A family story of watching, running and later returning to The Star Walk for a Women of Steel fundraiser stretches from Ecclesfield in the 1960s to Hillsborough Park in 2013
The photos in the paper recently of the Star Walk, took me back to my early days of watching the walk and eventually entering, writes Star reader Mike Lawton.
Whit Tuesday was a day my four sisters, and I, looked forward to each year as a family day when, along with our parents, we would walk down to Ecclesfield High Street in time to see the leading contestant in the Star Walk come through.
Our father, Henry, would be armed with his copy of The Star and, on seeing the number on approaching walkers, would give out details of interest such as age, and where they lived.
We would clap each walker going through and shout out words of encouragement to them - young or old - especially those who lived locally.
When all the walkers had passed by, we would make our way down to Ecclesfield Park where we would enjoy the swings and slides, or play ball games.
Mother would have prepared sandwiches for a picnic lunch, or sometimes fetch chips from the nearby chippy. Father, by this time, would have disappeared for a couple of hours in search of some liquid refreshment.
It was a fun day out and it was something we repeated when we were older, and had children of our own.
In between those times, as soon as I was 16, I decided to enter myself. Itried to encourage others from a youth club I attended at Burncross to take part as there was a prize for the first team of three to finish.
Unfortunately, only my friend Mick Wilson (later to become my brother-in-law) joined me that year. It was a pity as we both finished in the top 20 and with a third entrant would have had a good chance of the team prize.
Our success in managing a high finish did, however, encourage other members of our club to enter for the next two years. Burncross Youth Club won the team prize in 1964 and 1965.
By 1966, I was no longer a member of the youth club and Mick Wilson had joined the Royal Navy, but I entered the Star Walk for the last time and was rewarded by finishing in the top ten. I completed the 12 miles course in two hours and three minutes.
A surprise entry from our family came about after The Star decided to include a women's walk in the early 1970s. In 1978 our mother Rose Lawton, who was not the image of a long distance walker, announced that she was going to take part in the walk along with several of her workmates from Bassets Liquorice Allsorts.
Most of our extended family were there to cheer her on as she came through Ecclesfield and proudly made it to the finish. By the mid 70s, my sisters and I had children of our own, and as they became old enough to take part some did so including the Slinn family, Jayne, Andrew, and Gary, two Corkes , David and Stephen, plus Karen Wilson.
They also encouraged their friends to take part, such as Alison Cooper. The lads sometimes wore fancy dress, and wheeled prams for fund raising. By then we no longer went to Ecclesfield Park after the walk but sometimes got together in Hillsborough Park where the walk now finished.
Eventually, interest in the Star Walk diminished, and the last one was held in 2000 - 78 years after it started. That was until 2013, when the idea of a Star Walk around Hillsborough Park to help raise funds for the Women of Steel memorial statue was suggested.
Our mother was one of the Women of Steel. I had been doing some small fund raisers myself but, when this idea was suggested, it appealed to me. So many of the family had enjoyed the Star Walk in the past either watching, or taking part.
I set about asking for volunteers to join me for one last walk, in a good cause. The idea caught on and by the day of the walk we had just short of 50 family and friends taking part, including our mother. She by now needed a wheelchair to get around but insisted she wanted to join in.
As her mind was set on this, I willingly agreed to push her round the course and we were blessed with good weather on the day.
One of my grandson's Matthew Worne set off like a house on fire and was pleased to receive a certificate from The Star editor Jeremy Clifford for coming first in the children's race.
Afterwards there was a gathering for photos and our mother was pleased to see a model of how the Women of Steel statue was going to look.
The Star Walk certainly provoked happy memories for our family over a long period of time. I still have my two trophies from 1964/5, along with certificates of mine and other family members.
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