Congenital Heart Awareness Day - Chester

Twenty seven GUCHs, family and friends all met outside the Cathedral, armed with balloons and ready to raise awareness of GUCH PA along with John, Paula and Anne from GUCH HQ. Before the walks set off everyone posed for the Chester Chronicle not to be famous but to raise awareness.

The A walk led by Charlie, Elizabeth and Vicki set off from the cathedral, where Guy who lives in Chester filled us in with some local knowledge. Gently walking around Abbey Square we headed under Eastgate Clock, which is the second most photographed clock in the UK, to the Roman Amphitheatre. From there it was a short, gentle stroll through the beautiful

Chester shopping area, although we were very disappointed to learn that the “Tudor” buildings were in fact Victorian! There was time for a sit down and a very welcome coffee, before continuing to the Quaker Centre for an extremely nice lunch.

The B walk also set off from the Cathedral led by Mike, Paul and myself. Following the city wall we first passed King Charles Tower along to Bonewaldersthorn’s Tower which connects to the Water Tower. We carried along the wall with a view of the Water Tower Gardens along to the “The Roodee” Chester Racecourse for a photo opportunity, sadly there were no races so all bets were off! As we continued, we passed by the side of the Rover Dee and into the Roman Gardens with a reconstruction of a Roman hypocaust system (recovered from the legionary baths in Bridge Street) a bit like modern under-floor heating (which some of us mistook for a rather large table). Of course the next stop had to be the Roman Amphitheatre, which brought us towards the end of our journey to the famous Eastgate Clock (another photo opportunity).

We all joined up again at the Quaker Centre for lunch and the time for chatting with old friends as well as getting to know new friends was upon us. Under the sounds of chat and laughter, there was some attempt at singing (mentioning no names)! Paul thanked everyone for attending and paid a warm tribute to Laura Alexander as this walk was held in her memory. Given this event was to raise awareness, it was wonderful to see GUCHs here that we hadn’t seen before and we very much hope we will see at future events. And so the planning for next years’ begins…

Gill Mallinson