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Cancer survivor to take part in charity fundraising brewery walk in Kingston

Local News by Tilly O'Brien 1 hour ago  
Pete Bell was diagnosed with bowel cancer in April (Image supplied)
Pete Bell was diagnosed with bowel cancer in April (Image supplied)
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A cancer survivor and 11 of his friends will be taking part in a brewery fundraising 12 mile walk, across various breweries in Teddington, Kingston and Twickenham to raise money for several charities on 17 October.

Pete Bell was diagnosed with bowel cancer in April and consequently had surgery and chemotherapy.

He has since raised £5k for the organisations that treated him.

In an exclusive interview with Nub News, Bell said: "When I thought I might win my fight against cancer - you see the staff who have such tough jobs working so hard, and very sick people around me with long and horrible fights with cancer - my mind turned to how I could help when I was well enough.

"So, I started my main fundraising page and planned a couple of other ways to raise money, the first of which is our walk on 17 October.

"During the tough times, particularly Chemotherapy, it's a massive motivation to know your friends and family are willing you on - in this case giving their money to help me, people like me and the many hard-working professionals giving their all every day of the year, to treat cancer.

"When I felt like I wanted to give up - e.g. not take the tablets which make you feel ill, or not have an infusion which makes your veins burn for a fortnight - knowing that there's a community of people behind you who've committed their money to support what you're doing, really powered me through to get on with it."

Bell explained that he chose to split the funds between Kingston Hospital, which removed his tumour, Royal Marsden where he had chemo, Bowel Cancer UK and Cancer Research.

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As of now, across his 'main' fundraising page and the brewery walk page, the group has raised just over £5,100.

Speaking about fundraising, Bell said: "It may be too much to hope for but it would be amazing to get to £7k"

He added: "We're walking a 12mile route, and being lads who love local craft beer, we wanted to celebrate how lucky we are to have great local breweries, some of whom are struggling to continue at the moment.

"Since we planned the walk, a brwery in Molesey closed and another, the Park Brewery in Kingston, has been put up for sale.

"They've been really great supporters to host us, share insight on their product and mainly to give the walk some purpose."

The group will start at Twickenham Brewery in Mereway Road, to Thames Ditton Brewers at the Gin shop on the High Street, then Big Smoke Brewery represented by its original brewing site in Maple Road Surbiton, then Park Brewery in Hampden Road Norbiton, and the finish line is at Jawbone Brewery in Strawberry Vale Twickenham.

Speaking about the walk, Bell said: "We've got two guys who have previously walked to Everest base camp (so I think they'll survive this one) and my best man is flying down from Edinburgh, landing Heathrow at 7.35 on the morning of the walk, to be at the start line for 10am."

Donations for Bell's walk can be made here.

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