James Cripps, the Master of the Worshipful Company of Fuellers, will be walking the Ridgeway during the months of July, August and September to raise funds for:

(i) the Fuellers Charitable Trust Fund (the ‘FCTF’) , which was established in 1983 with its primary aims the relief of poverty and the advancement of education, research and assistance through awards, prizes and donations in areas connected to energy; and

(ii) JDRF, the leading global type 1 diabetes charity, works every day to help people live better with the condition, to prevent people ever developing it and one day to find cures.

James has been an adviser to the FCTF since the last century. He has also had type ! since 1989 and is a past director and Chair of the JDRF UK Board of Directors. One duty of the Master Fueller during the year in office is to raise money for the FCTF, he has been raising money for JDRF since 1986 when he assisted the formation of the UK charity and his efforts have included multiple annual walks, often with his wife, five children and family dog, as well as climbing Mount Kilimanjaro after the retired from the City in 2014.

The walks will consist of a series of dog friendly circular routes outlined in ‘The Ridgeway, A Dog Walker’s Guide’ by Debbie Kendall and Nigel Vile (available from Countryside Books- www. countryside books.co.uk – or on Amazon and the walks as outlined in the book can also be found on the Alltrails app – available to download).

The Ridgeway is a National Trail of 87 miles/139 km which follows the route of Britain’s oldest road, used since prehistoric times. It starts at Overton Hill, part of the World Heritage site of Avebury in Wiltshire and travels in a north-easterly direction to its end on the edge of the Chiltern Hills at Ivinghoe Beacon in Buckinghamshire (252 metres above sea level). It passes very close to James and Margaret’s Master’s home in Marsh, Buckinghamshire.

Each of the 20 walks takes in a section of the Ridgeway as part of a circular walk using other footpaths and celebrated trails including The Chiltern Way and Icknield Way. The walks are designed to be dog-friendly as James will be accompanied not only by his wife, Margaret, but also their two black labradors, Maia and Theia. The walks cover just over 100 miles, slightly longer than the Ridgeway.

We will be reporting our progress to JDRF(UK) and on Fuellers.co.uk ( under 'Events' and 'News').