Taylor started gambling when he was 14 years old. After gambling for half his life, in his late 20s he started to realise that he had severe gambling-related harm. In 2023, he reached out to Gordon Moody to ask for help and admitted he was powerless to resist gambling.
He celebrates being one year gamble free on November 11th 2024 and he has decided to take on a fundraising challenge to raise funds for Gordon Moody. Starting from his home town of Dunstable, he will walk to the treatment centre he attended in Dudley and will arrive on the anniversary of him entering treatment, November 13th.
The walk will cover 87 miles of English countryside, cities, towns, and villages and he will be joined along the way by friends and other alumni.
In his own words and pictures, updates from Taylor will appear here during the course of his walk.
Day one – Sunday 10th November 2024: Dunstable – Milton Keynes
We set out around 9.00 am for our first day of walking. I am joined on this challenge by my friend and fellow Gordon Moody alumnus Gerard. He has come over from Ireland especially to take part.
Walking through the lovely village of Hockliffe, local residents were speaking to us about our challenge and were kind enough to give us fresh bottles of water and were interested to find out more about Gordon Moody and how their residential treatment helped us reclaim and rebuild our lives.
We continued down the A5. It was a loud walk as you can’t get away from the busy road but we kept ourselves entertained by talking about stories from our time together in treatment at Gordon Moody.
After six hours of walking, we arrived at our first hotel in Milton Keynes. It was time to have a shower, enjoy a hearty dinner, and settle down to relax our feet watching Mrs Doubtfire on the tv.
Total miles walked: 15
Miles to destination: 72
Day two – Monday 11th November 2024: Milton Keynes – Dunchurch
With a long walk ahead of us today, we set off at 7.45 am and the first place we walked through was Stoney Stratford. Again, local residents were asking us about our walk and scanning the QR code on our flag to donate to the challenge. These interactions kept us motivated and going forward for the long day ahead.
After leaving Stoney Stratford, we were on our way to our first stop of the day. It was time for the famous Super Sausage Cafe in Towcester, and what a stop it was. This iconic cafe has been in this spot on the A5 for over 70 years and is frequented by locals, bikers, visitors to Silverstone (just over 10 minutes away from the cafe), and has seen countless celebrities stop in to fill their faces. And now Taylor and Gerard have joined their ranks!
With full bellies, we headed through Towcester town centre. It was a lovely place to walk through with some very nice views and lots of buildings to take pictures of.
After leaving Towcester, it was back to the A5 and just me and Gerard and walking. The walk towards Weedon seemed to take forever but we just kept putting one foot in front of the other and knocking off the miles. After finally reaching Weedon, we were again met with wonderful kindness and interest from the locals who stopped to offer us refreshments and find out more about our journey.
Soon, we started to come towards Daventry. We were both feeling aches and pains but dug deep into our motivation for the cause, why we were doing this challenge and that kept us going.
We finally arrived at our hotel for the night in Dunchurch at 7.45 pm, a mere 12 hours after we started.
Total miles walked: 33
Miles to destination: 39
Day three – Tuesday 12th November 2024: Dunchurch – Birmingham
Update to come.
Total miles walked: 30
Miles to destination: 9
Day four – Wednesday 14th November 2024: Birmingham – Dudley
Update to come.
Total miles walked: 9
Miles to destination: None!
How to donate to this challenge
Please donate via this link. Thank you in advance for your contribution to this cause that means so much to me. I understand we are in difficult times right now but it would honestly mean so much to me. Any donation will help make an impact in the lives of those severely affected by gambling-related harm.
Fundraising – now it’s your turn!
If Taylor’s challenge has inspired you, would you like to take on a fundraising challenge for Gordon Moody? However big or small, all money raised for Gordon Moody helps us to get people the right treatment, at the right time, and in the right place.
To find out how we can help you with a fundraising challenge for Gordon Moody, please email our fundraising team.