FUNDRAISERS will be thrown back to the 80s at St Helena Hospice’s Midnight Walk.

The annual walk returns in September this year and anyone over 11 is welcome to take part.

Starting and finishing at Stanfords in Wyncolls Road, Colchester, participants can walk either 4.5 miles or nine miles around the town.

To help launch the event, Coral Allen, Lene Johnson and Will Love donned their 1980s accessories.

Coral has participated almost every year since the walk started 11 years ago.

She said: “I take part to raise vital funds for the hospice to enable them to provide the same high standard of care my first husband and I received and also continuing care following his death in 2005 at the age of 45.

“I always walk with my mum, she is 84-years-old and fitter than I am.

“The sight of so many people walking en masse through the streets of Colchester in fancy dress and wearing flashing bunny ears is something to behold.”

The Midnight Walk has had a special place in Will Love’s memory since his wife, Lynn, tackled the event in 2017 in her wheelchair and took a triumphant step over the finish line.

Lynn had been referred to St Helena Hospice’s rehabilitation team earlier that year after losing mobility in her leg and part of her arm due to an incurable brain tumour.

Will said: “Lynn had taken part in the Midnight Walk before she was ill but you don’t realise what goes on at St Helena Hospice until you need it.

“It was not just about the patient, it’s about the partner too.The support I got was just brilliant.”

Will is planning to take part this year, walking alongside Lynn’s colleagues and some pupils from the Gilberd School where she used to work.

Lene Johnson gave a moving speech on stage at last year’s Midnight Walk. She spoke about her daughter Marie-Louise who was 24 when she was diagnosed with cancer.

She said: “When she died I had this really clear idea of what I was going to say in the church. I kept it quite light-hearted.

“When I suddenly had this chance of bragging a bit about her on the stage, I knew these people were all there for the right reasons. I just felt at home.”

This year marks the 35th anniversary of St Helena Hospice.

Registration is now open and the entry fee includes access to the walk, entertainment and a Midnight Walk T-shirt when you sign up before July 18 plus a doughnut and a Midnight Walk medal.

It will take place on Saturday, September 12. Visit sthelena.org.uk/midnightwalk20