It was grief for her father that led to an unexpected friendship for Louise Sherwin, who will be taking part in our Midnight Walk on Friday 10 July.
Get ready – St Luke’s iconic Midnight Walk returns for 2026! Step out under the stars to celebrate treasured memories of loved ones and raise vital funds for the compassionate local care we deliver across the community.
Friday 10 July 2026
Big-hearted walkers wore sunny smiles and vibrant pink T-shirts as they strode through the city’s streets on Friday (11 July), celebrating precious memories of much-missed family members and friends, while raising funds to support the compassionate care St Luke’s Hospice Plymouth delivers.
The charity’s annual, family-friendly Midnight Walk attracted an incredible 1,125 entrants taking on a choice of four routes – 2.5, five, 7.5 and 13.5 miles (the equivalent of a half marathon) – making it accessible for people of all ages and levels of fitness.
Age is no barrier when it comes to our Midnight Walkers. At 78 and 87, Jean Turfkruyer and Bernie Massey will be some of our oldest participants at our Midnight Walk on Friday, but the friends are not letting their age stop them from taking part and making a difference.
Jean and Bernie are two of our Compassionate Friends who volunteer at our Friends in the Park Compassionate Café at the Well Being Hub at Central Park.
The pair first met four years ago when the café was first set up for members of the community who are experiencing loss, bereavement or maybe affected by life limiting illness to meet.
It will be cherished memories spurring on the friends and loved ones of ‘family man’ David Hambly at our Midnight Walk on Friday 11 July, as they will be celebrating his life after he sadly died earlier this month.
Louise Peters’ very good friend David, 46, was being cared for by St Luke’s in his final days. In honour of his memory and as a way of saying thank you to St Luke’s for the care he and his wife and two children received, Louise will be completing the 5 mile walk along with lots of friends, colleagues and one of David’s brothers and his family, including his young niece.
Let’s remember together, as St Luke’s iconic Midnight Walk returns on Friday 11 July.
Midnight Walk is our family-friendly event, with a heart full of hope, kindly sponsored once again by Michael Spiers. It’s a chance to shine a light on all those very special people who are no longer with us, while striding forward to secure the future of our hospice services at home and in our specialist unit.
From young children to teenagers, and from strollers to seasoned, long-distance striders, everyone is welcome to be part of the action. And this year, for the first time, there’s a choice of four routes rather than the traditional three.
Weathering the storm together is at the heart of the compassionate care St Luke’s Hospice Plymouth offers patients and their families, and that was exactly the spirit embraced by the 1,100 warm-hearted supporters who strode out on the charity’s sellout Midnight Walk on Friday night.
Heavy rain showers and some spectacular puddles couldn’t deter the excited and emotional crowd from pounding the city’s streets in memory of much-missed friends and family members, raising vital funds for the end-of-life services St Luke’s provides in people’s own homes and its own inpatient unit.
“At what was the most difficult and heartbreaking time of my life, St Luke’s were my guardian angels and I will forever be grateful to them.”
Sam Barker, Headteacher at Leigham Primary School, will be one of the hundreds of pink-clad walkers taking part in our Midnight Walk on Friday.
“St Luke’s took the reins we didn’t know how to steer and guided us with gentle hands right through to the very end.”
Like many of the walkers taking part in our Midnight Walk on Friday, Danielle Craig, a Learning Support Practitioner at Duchy College, will be taking on the walk in memory of someone special, her late husband Lee.
