Railway staff walk 114 miles overnight for charity

Maisie Lillywhite & Annabelle Martin
BBC News, Gloucestershire
Great Western Railway An older man wearing a dark green polo shirt and black Great Western Railway cap holds the hand of a woman with brown hair wearing a black Prostate Cancer UK T-shirt as they walk down a railway platform. Other members of railway staff can be seen smiling and clapping. There is a dark green Great Western Railway marquee behind them.Great Western Railway
Train driver Mike Speck, who was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2024, crossed the finish line with adminstrator Tracy Bannon, whose father-in-law died from the disease

Railway staff have walked more than 100 miles overnight to raise money for a cancer charity.

The "Walk to Paddington" event saw Great Western Railway drivers and other staff take turns to walk up and down Gloucester Station's platform for 18 hours, raising £3,001 for Prostate Cancer UK.

Gloucester has the longest continuous railway platform in the UK, and the 114-mile distance covered is the same as between the station and Paddington station, in London.

Driver Mike Speck, who recently finished treatment for prostate cancer, crossed the finish line on Thursday, hand-in-hand with Tracy Bannon, an administrator at the Gloucester depot whose father-in-law died from the disease.

According to Prostate Cancer UK, the disease is the most common cancer in England, with more than 50,000 men diagnosed in 2022.

Mr Speck, who was diagnosed in February last year, had no symptoms of prostate cancer but got a prostate-specific antigen blood test after an annual physical exam.

"This led to a scan, which confirmed I had prostate cancer," he said.

"If I hadn't had this routine test, I wouldn't have been any the wiser that something was wrong."

Great Western Railway A large group of Great Western Railway staff smile and celebrate as they stand on a railway platform, holding signs bearing the names of various stations on the Gloucester to London Paddington route, including Kemble and Didcot Parkway. It is a sunny day and they are stood in front of a dark green Great Western Railway marquee.Great Western Railway
Staff began walking on Wednesday and walked overnight into Thursday to exceed their fundraising target by £2,000

Simon Green, engineering director at Great Western Railway, said those participating in the charity walk "had done something quite remarkable", having set a target of £1,000.

"I think it's important events like today draw awareness to allow people to go and get themselves tested and make sure, if there is anything wrong in that area, they've got an opportunity to have it sorted out of the way before it becomes too serious," he said.

Linda Castle, sheriff and deputy mayor of Gloucester, said both her husband and her father had been diagnosed with prostate cancer.

"It's a brilliant cause and I think everyone's done brilliantly organising this because it's not an easy thing; a lot of hard work goes on behind the scenes," she said.

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