Recalling the first Kent Messenger 50-mile charity walk from Dover to Maidstone via Canterbury and Ashford in 1963

By: Alan Smith ajsmith@thekmgroup.co.uk

Published: 06:01, 11 December 2020

Brian Thomas has only been to Maidstone once in his life, but boy was he glad to see the County Town when he got there.

Mr Thomas, now 82 and living in Towcester, was one of the 4,500 people who took part in the first ever Kent Messenger Charity Walk in 1963.

Jeff and Brian Thomas on the Kent Messenger Walk of 1963

They left from Dover seafront - where Mr Thomas was living at the time and working for the General Post Office - with the aim of arriving in Maidstone 50 miles later by way of Canterbury and Ashford.

Only 670 completed the distance, but Mr Thomas, who walked with his father Jeff Thomas, was one of them.

They set off at midnight on Friday, April 5.

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He said: "I remember it vividly; it was a horrible dark and wet night."

And although the event was not intended as a race, his father was a race-walker and forced the pace the whole distance. Mr Thomas said: "We never stopped once, not even at the refreshments posts along the way where the KM was generously handing out tea and sandwiches."

The walkers were all in good spirits when they set off - despite its being the middle of the night

As a result they came in third and fourth, arriving at the end point, Maidstone's Invicta Park Barracks, at 10.15am.

Mr Thomas - who was 25 at the time - said: "My feet were covered in blisters, but they let me take a bath in the barracks which helped. Then we were treated to a slap-up breakfast of eggs, bacon and chips. It was lovely."

The first person home was a marathon runner, Paul East, who arrived at 8.27am.

Most of the rest struggled in some time in the afternoon.

Mr Thomas said: "I was so tired, to this day I haven't a clue how we got home."

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Despite the high drop-out rate, the event was considered a success raising thousands of pounds for charity.

The next year's walk saw 5,500 people enter and almost 1,000 finish.

The walks continued each year for five years, by which time they had grown too big to handle. The last walk was in 1967.

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Ashford Canterbury Dover Maidstone

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