A dozen members from Silves Rotary Club with a combined age of over 850 years decided to walk the Camino Portugues from Valença to Santiago de Compostela. Starting on the 24 September 2022 the pilgrims will walk some 120 km over six days to provide children with learning difficulties a calm and ideal place to learn.

Each team member will be supported by a class of pupils at the Agrupamento Escolas De Silves Sul and carry a mascot presented by their class so that the pilgrims can share their experience daily with the school children. You could say there will be 24 pilgrims.

Looking at them, you would not bet on these pilgrims making it. A couple have recently had hip replacements, one a heart surgery, another an eighty year old dodgy knee – whilst others have suffered  a sprinkling of other injuries that one picks up in your seventies – yes, the average age of the pilgrims will be over seventy. They are the walking wounded.

Why go through the challenge? You may well ask. The answer is to raise money for this fantastic cause and to inspire you to donate to us so that we can resource a much needed sensory room and garden in Agrupamento Escolas De Silves Sul.

The school needs a sensory room and garden, a calm, safe haven to enable them to benefit fully from their time in school. The dedicated teachers at the school work hard to provide the children with the necessary skills to live independently in the future.

Silves Rotary Club Pilgrims are asking your help to raise 20,000 Euros, 100% of your donations will go to turn that old classroom and scrubby garden into a harmonious learning space with all the necessary resources. Any contribution no matter how small is welcome.

We are inspired by John Bunyan’s famous hymn which goes

He who would valiant be

Against all disaster.

Let him in constancy

Follow the master.

There’s no discouragement,

Shall make him once relent

His first avowed intent

To be a pilgrim.

Be Inspired too. Please donate

More information in the next few weeks about the pilgrims:

You can donate now at GoFundMe.com via our page “Help Pilgrims Change Kids Lives”