When we heard that there were two of our Kingswood activity weekend attendees doing some awareness and fundraising for Alopecia UK, we were keen to find out more. We caught up with Emily and Madeleine, both aged 10, to find out about their walking challenges this September. 

Firstly, how was the Kingswood event? 

Emily: I loved Kingswood. My favourite bit was making new friends with alopecia. 

Madeleine:  Kingswood was great.  I really enjoyed seeing my friends and making some new friends.  I enjoyed all the activities but my favourite was leap of faith as I was really proud that I was able to jump and catch the bar.

Tell us about your walking challenges..

Emily: Me and my mum, dad and little brother have decided to do a challenge to walk up Pen Y Fan mountain in the Brecon Beacons. We have picked the 30th September to do it. I've never walked up Pen Y Fan but my parents have. It's very high (886m) and I am a bit nervous. My brother Jack is only 6 years old and he's coming with us too!

Madeleine: We are going to walk from Southampton to Winchester alongside the river Itchen.  It is about 12 miles long in total.  I am looking forward to it as it is helping to raise lots of money for Alopecia UK and I've never walked that far before so I want to see if I get tired out.

Why is it important to you to raise awareness and funds for Alopecia UK?

Emily: Alopecia UK is important to me as I feel like I’m not alone and when I go to the Kingswood residential weekend so feel like I fit in. I want to raise some money for Alopecia UK so they can keep helping people like me! 

Madeleine: It is important because it will help to fund more research into alopecia and also to help to provide more support to people like I've received over the last 3 years.  Also, I like to make more people aware of what alopecia is so we will be wearing our Alopecia UK t-shirts when we do the walk. 

We are sure you will agree that Emily and Madeleine are putting in an incredible effort this September to raise much-needed awareness and funds for Alopecia UK. If you would like to support either Emily or Madeleine (or both!), you can find their JustGiving pages below. 

Support Emily's Pen y Fan Walk Challenge

Support Madeleine's Southampton to Winchester Walk Challenge

If you would like to 'Challenge Yourself' this September, we would love to have you join in with your own awareness and fundraising activities. Find out more here.