Nicola Noble and her Jack Russell, Flo, received more than they bargained for on day one of their six day, 100 mile walk for The Forever Friends Appeal’s RUH Cancer Care Campaign this week, bumping into HRH The Duchess of Cornwall, who was taking her dog, Beth, for a walk. HRH The Duchess of Cornwall has supported the hospital Appeal in the past, and so was interested to hear about Nicola’s journey, which will see her travelling the entire catchment area of the RUH.

Nicola has taken on the remarkable challenge to mark the tenth year of the Appeal’s Walk of Life, which takes place this Saturday and was set up in memory of her inspirational sister, Vanessa Kyte. The walk will also celebrate the achievements of the Appeal’s four Community Fundraising Groups, in Midsomer Norton, Chippenham, Bath and Warminster. The walk began in Devizes, calling through Chippenham, Bath, Radstock, Warminster and back to the start line on Saturday in Devizes, which will see more than 300 walkers take part in the 21 miles back to Bath. Last year’s event raised over £35,000 for the hospital, and the team is hoping that they can beat this effort. The local fundraising groups have planned a special event in order to welcome Nicola when she arrives in their respective home towns, with fundraising activities from yarnbombing to finger painting and collections to sweepstakes on the number of paw prints Flo will have made!

The Midsomer Norton team were holding a supermarket spinathon in the Radstock Co-operative store on Wednesday, between 12 noon and 5 p.m. and were encouraging others to go along and join them and to welcome Nicola as she arrived. She is due to be waved off on the next leg of her journey by the Chair of Radstock Town Council, Mike Boulton, on Thursday morning.

Nicola became involved with The Forever Friends Appeal with her sister, Vanessa Kyte in 2003, following Vanessa’s diagnosis with breast cancer in 2000. The sisters completed a number of different challenges to raise funds for the RUH, the most well-known of which was the March and May Miles Walks of 2006 and 2007, eighty-mile walks which have inspired Nicola to replicate the ‘Go with the Flo’ event. Sadly, Vanessa lost her battle with cancer in 2007, but Nicola has continued the fundraising in her memory.

There is still time to register for Saturday’s Walk of Life: www.foreverfriendsappeal.com