Walk to Remember FAQs

Walk to Remember is an opportunity to get together with friends, family or colleagues to walk and share memories of loved ones you’ve lost. It doesn’t matter when or how they died, and it’s OK to walk in memory of one person or many.

When you register, you’ll get access to practical resources to help you with planning, plus tips to support you with emotions that might come up. As part of your Walk to Remember, it’d be amazing if you could also raise funds so Samaritans can support people who are struggling to cope.

You can use the time walking to reflect on the person’s life or to think about what they meant to you. Some people are carrying photos of people they’ve lost, too. If you’re fundraising, you can personalise your fundraising page to help tell your story or share your experience, if you’re comfortable doing so. It’s entirely up to you how you take part in memory of someone, but if you’d like any guidance, please contact us at community&[email protected]

Your Walk to Remember can be whatever you want it to be, so there’s no pressure to share stories or memories. However at Samaritans, we believe in the importance of talking and listening – positive human connection plays a key role in good mental health. So we really encourage you to talk and share your feelings, if you feel comfortable doing so.

Talking is also an important part of grieving. It allows people to express and understand their feelings, so they can learn to cope with them eventually. It's also a way to resolve issues associated with losing a loved one, like feelings of guilt, anger, and longing. For specific support around grief, you can also visit The Good Grief Trust.

Simply fill in the Walk to Remember sign-up form to let us know you’re doing a Walk to Remember.

No – it’s FREE to take part! We’d love it if you took the opportunity to set up a fundraiser and help raise money for Samaritans. All the money you raise will help us reach more people who need our support.

Anyone can take part! But, if you’re under 16 you will need a parent or guardian to sign you up or email community&[email protected] with permission from your parent or guardian.

No, Walk to Remember is for everyone! You can choose a distance and place that feels right for you and your ability. You can walk as quickly or slowly as you like. If you need a break, that’s fine – you could even take a picnic or some coffee in a flask.

We’ve created a welcome guide to help with planning, plus posters, social media badges and more to help you invite others – check out our resources page and use as many as you like. If there’s anything you’d like that isn’t downloadable, please email community&[email protected]

If you need any practical help planning, take a look at the Walk to Remember FAQs or email community&[email protected] and one of the team will get back to you as soon as possible.

If you have any questions or queries, please email community&[email protected]

1. Decide who you’re walking for – you can walk in memory of one person, or all remember different people… it’s up to you
2. Set a date – it might be a meaningful date or just whenever your group are free. Let us know when you’re walking by emailing community&[email protected]
3. Set a time – you might want to walk in the morning and finish with a picnic or tea room visit, or choose the afternoon and enjoy a sunset and pub dinner!
4. Decide on a place and distance – make your walk as casual or as challenging as you like, depending on who you’re inviting. You could also have different ‘legs’, if some people would prefer to stop sooner
5. Send invites – invite anyone you like. Just download digital invites or use the ready-made wording on the Walk to Remember webpage. If you’re walking with 20 people or more, please get in touch with our team
6. Promote your event – if you’re inviting the public or sharing your walk at a funeral or wake, download free Walk to Remember posters and leaflet templates. If you’re aiming for more than 20 in your group, please email us at community&[email protected] so we can provide additional guidance
7. Plan your route – make sure you’ve considered refreshment and comfort breaks, somewhere to meet (with parking if needed) and somewhere you’d like to gather at the end of your walk

Cover any distance you like and track your miles/km if you wish. The important thing is that you enjoy it! For some people the walk is about taking it slowly and connecting with others, so they’d like it to be more casual, but others want it to feel like more of a challenge. Whether it’s 1 mile or 25 miles, choose a distance that feels right for you and your group.

There are lots of apps that can help you plan a route or track your distance, such as Strava, OS Maps, Komoot and Google Maps. If you’d like to learn how to plan a route using a traditional map and compass, OS Maps have created some handy navigation tutorials to help you. You can also roughly calculate your distance using a pedometer – 1,320 steps is around 1km. 6,600 steps works out at approximately 5km, and 13,200 steps is approximately 10km.

You could increase your distance, split your route into legs so that people can decide how many they want to complete, or find an area with some hills to climb.

If you’d like to tell your local press about your walk, please get in touch with community&[email protected] so we can provide support.

You can walk anytime you like. It might be a nice summer’s day or a date that feels special to you in some way… or just the day when all of your friends are free! Let us know when you’re walking by emailing community&[email protected] so that we can support you in the run up and afterwards.

Choose a time depending on the activities or refreshment stops you’d like to include. You might like to stop at a tearoom or café, have a picnic, go for a Sunday lunch or end up in the pub.

It’s a good idea to make sure you have appropriate clothing to suit the weather conditions, including waterproofs if it’s looking rainy. If it’s hot, don’t forget sun cream and a hat, and if it’s chilly, a woolly hat might even be needed!

You’ll also want to take a copy of your route, and potentially a map and compass if you’re going somewhere more adventurous. You can find useful navigation tutorials on how to plan routes and read maps online. A lot of people also use GPS phone apps to track their route and distance, but if you use one of these, you might also want to take a battery pack with you, as they can use a lot of power.

Make sure anyone who’s joining your walk comes in appropriate clothing and footwear, and that they bring enough water and snacks. You might also ask them to bring a photo or story of the person they’re remembering. Or if you’re raising funds with a mini car boot bake sale, you could invite people to bring along some cake or treats to contribute.

Yes, it's fine to organise a walk with others… part of the joy of Walk to Remember is being able to spend quality time with friends, family or a group! We recommend that you test your chosen route in advance to make sure it feels safe and manageable for the people who are coming along, and carry out a risk assessment if you’re walking with a group of people who aren’t your close friends and family.

No – your group can either walk in memory of one person, or you can each choose someone different to remember. It’s up to you.

Once you’ve signed up, you can visit the Walk to Remember resources and download digital invites that you can share on WhatsApp, Facebook or email (or any other way that suits you). You can also print them if you wish to send them or hand them out in person. On the resources page you’ll also find some wording that you can edit and send out, so that you don’t have to write it from scratch yourself.

We know that for many people remembering loved ones is a joy, but sometimes it can also be upsetting. If you or anyone on your walk needs emotional support, please remember that we are here to listen. Call Samaritans free, day or night, on 116 123 or visit samaritans.org for other ways to speak to a Samaritan.

Remembering a loved one could bring up some difficult or emotional conversations on your walk. If you’d like to feel more prepared, there’s lots of information on our website, including SHUSH active listening tips.

We’re encouraging organisers to make an optional donation of £30 when they sign up, in exchange for the welcome pack and resources provided by Samaritans. You can then ask anyone joining your walk for optional / suggested donations too.

If you like, you can make your walk more of a challenge and get sponsored, or you could ask your employer to donate too.

Finally, in your welcome guide you’ll also find other ideas for raising additional money on the day, such as hosting a mini bake sale from the boot of your car.

JustGiving is an online fundraising platform. Once you’ve signed up for Walk to Remember, you can choose to set up a JustGiving fundraising page if you wish.

You can personalise your page and share with friends and family to let them know what an incredible walk you are taking on for Samaritans. Any sponsorship money received via your online page will come straight to Samaritans, saving time and effort for you.

Yes, absolutely! Once you have signed up and created your personal JustGiving page, you can create a Walk to Remember team page too.

When your friends, family or colleagues sign up to take part in Walk to Remember, they can join your team during the registration process. For more information about how to set up your Walk to Remember team online, please head here. Don't forget, you need to have registered to take part in Walk to Remember before you can join or create a team.

Once you have set up a team, you’re automatically made the Team Leader, which means you can invite people to join. On your page you will be able to invite whoever you want (if they have their own page set up).

There’s no fixed target, but we’d love you to raise as much as you can. Every £5 can help fund a call for help, while £75 could help us respond to 15 people through our online chat service. Thank you for supporting Samaritans and if you need any support with your fundraising, please email community&[email protected]

Gift Aid is a government run scheme that allows charities to reclaim some of the tax that you have already paid to HMRC. Currently, this is equal to 25p for every £1 that you give. Gift Aid does not cost you any extra and can make your donation worth an extra 25% to us, so it is a fantastic way of ensuring your donations go as far as they possibly can.

When you register to take part in Walk to Remember, you’ll be sent an email with a link to set up an online fundraising page. There are a few key things you can do to make the most of your page, including: 

• Uploading a photo: You can personalise your page by adding photos and making it feel unique to you
• Setting a target: This is a great way to motivate yourself and to encourage others to help you reach your goal
• Sharing your story: Make sure you tell people why you’re taking part in Walk to Remember and explain how their support makes a big difference to Samaritans and the people we support
• Promoting your page: You can email a page link to your friends and family and share it on social media. This will help you raise awareness of your Walk to Remember and kick-start your fundraising
• Keeping everyone updated: Don’t forget to update everyone once you’ve completed your challenge and please do thank them, on behalf of Samaritans, for their donations

• Pay in online: https://www.samaritans.org/donate/pay-in.
• Pay in by cheque: Send a cheque made payable to Samaritans to Samaritans, The Upper Mill, Kingston Road, Ewell, KT17 2AF. Remember to include your name and address details so we can thank you. 
• Pay in by BACS: Contact us directly and we will provide you with our bank details. You'll be given a unique reference, so we can track your donation. 
• Pay by phone: To make a donation over the phone, call our Supporter Care team on 03709 00 00 32.

As a charity, our vision is that fewer people die by suicide. Every 10 seconds, Samaritans responds to a call for help and your fundraising will help us be there for people who are struggling to cope. For every £1 raised, 80p goes on our services and just 20p is invested in raising the next £1. You can find out more about Samaritans here.

Yes, you can! Please note that because this challenge was set up in the UK, your fundraising page will display your fundraising total in British pounds, but donations from outside of the UK will still be processed as normal.

Not at this time, but we may set up a group in future.

To set up a JustGiving page there is no cost involved – it’s completely free! The only cost of using the platform for charities is a small 1.9% per transaction processing fee plus £0.20 payment processing fees and 5% Gift Aid – this will be charged on every donation made to your page. If the donation is made in another currency, then the processing fee is 2.9% + £0.20.

As this is a pilot event for 2023, we’re unable to separate branch fundraising from central fundraising, but we hope to be able to do this in future. If you’d like to raise funds for a local Samaritans branch, please contact them directly before registering. We are unable to change where the funds are allocated once you have completed your registration. All the money raised supports Samaritans to be there for anyone struggling to cope, right across the UK and Republic of Ireland.

The best way is to share your fundraising page with volunteers and add an email banner on your email signature.