Annual walk from Warrington to Salford raises over £1k for St Rocco’s

Lee Kinsey, 49, and Vinny Yearsley, 44, organise the annual fundraiser every year for St Rocco’s, as well as several other events.

The walk has been taking place since 2022, and this year around 80 people took part.

“I just do it because I have friends, very close friends, who struggle in day-to-day life, so I do it to get people together,” said Lee.

“I had bad news back in 2017, which was nothing to do with Rocco’s, but my head went south, and I had people that helped me.

“I just thought why not do something that brings everyone together, especially the town of Warrington.

“It’s good to help people, but also help the hospice.”

The group started the 12 mile walk at 8am from The Halliwell Jones Stadium and arrived at the Salford Community Stadium at around 2pm.

Sausage sandwiches were provided to the group by James and Claire Macintosh and Lee’s wife, Katherine, on the route.

The walkers also stopped at the Coach and Horse Pub in Irlam before they arrived at the stadium in Salford to conclude the walk by watching the Wire v Salford game.

Cheaper tickets were arranged for the group to watch the game by Clare Gamble.

“Everyone of us stood together, it was just a great day – a fantastic day,” said Lee.

“Everything went well, and everyone enjoyed it.”

While the Wire might have lost the match, the fundraiser was a huge success as the group raised £1,800 for St Rocco’s Hospice.

Afterwards, Swift Travel Mini Busses generously organised three trips to take around 50 walkers back to Warrington, for free.

The group then stopped at The Rope and Anchor pub on Manchester Road to conclude the day.

The walk is one of around six fundraisers Lee and Vinny organise every year for St Rocco's (Image: Lee Kinsey)

Lee, who recently won the Fundraiser of the Year at the Warrington Guardian’s Inspiration Awards, arranges a number of different fundraising events for St Rocco’s throughout the year with the help of Vinny.

They started fundraising for St Rocco’s in 2020 and now do around six different fundraisers a year.

“I’ve had friends who have lost loved ones in there and the care they received was fantastic, so I thought why not,” said Lee.

“We now do this every year, and we have some belters coming up.”

In October, the pair have organised a Full Monty performance, where nine men all over the age of 45 will be taking part.

The performance sold out of 250 tickets in half an hour when they were released, raising £5,000 five months before the show even takes place.

The duo will also be bringing back their Christmas fundraiser, where an estimated 110 people are expected to take part this year in a fancy dress pub crawl around 10 Warrington pubs.