On Fathers Day, Weymouth and Portland Lions Club held their first “March for Men” walk along Weymouth seafront to raise awareness of prostate cancer. 11,000 men in the UK die each year of the disease and the death rate continues to rise. It is a bigger killer now than breast cancer, yet it fails to attract sufficient attention from either the government or from many men themselves. The Lions decided to help do something about it and are supporting the Prostate Cancer charity in order to help save lives.

It was a little chilly but it stayed dry for the walk and the sun peeked through the clouds once or twice. Following a vigorous warm-up session, led by Gina Hartley, Weymouth’s Mayor Councillor Gill Taylor set the walkers off from the beach and dozens of people marched along the promenade, some getting as far as Overcombe Corner and back, a treck of over 6km.

“I fully support this very worthwhile cause”, said Councillor Taylor, “Lots of Men are reluctant to take the test in the first place, often leaving it until too late, and there is insufficient funding to carry out proper research to improve treatment”

Lion’s Club President, also known as Roger the Lion, said, “We were delighted to welcome the people who supported us, appropriately on Father’s Day. As well as Councillor Taylor, we were fortunate to have the support of Wessex FM as well as Whitehorse Training on hand to provide essential first aid cover.

All in all it was a good day out, we got the message out and we raised over £1,000 for important research.

 

 

 

Three past Mayor’s and a real one!