99 year old Salisbury woman taking on walks for city's homeless
Phyll Babb wants to complete 100 walks before her own centenary
A 99 year-old Salisbury woman is to celebrate her centenary year by doing 100 walks, each of one mile, to raise money for a city homelessness charity.
Phyll Babb will walk from her home, around the city’s famous Cathedral Close and back again using a Rollator aid, of the type made famous by Captain Sir Tom Moore.
All the money that she raises will go to Salisbury Trust for the Homeless (STFH), which helps local homeless people get their lives back on track.
She's just until 13th July 2025 to complete her challenge and said:
“I only decided to do this very recently. I was at the annual Salisbury Trust for the Homeless fundraising summer party and I thought ‘here am I having a lovely time, and still fit and healthy. I can do something to help those less fortunate than I am’.”
Phyll plans to do the walks – which take her about 45 minutes – twice a week over the next year so that she can finish the last one by the time of her 100th birthday.
She's a former chairman of the Trust and a longtime volunteer for the case:
“STFH has helped such a lot of people who have been in its houses retrain and get back to normal living.”
Gordon Pardy, head of fundraising for STFH, said:
“We are so grateful to Phyll for undertaking this typically gutsy fundraising project in her 100th year. Our charity does not receive any financial support from central or local government and so we are very much dependant on the generosity of the public in Wiltshire and further afield.”
The charity was founded in 1987, and has helped hundreds of people to regain confidence and self-esteem, learn life skills, find education, training and employment opportunities, and access permanent accommodation, so returning to independent living.