Hundreds already signed up for Stars Appeal's Walk for Wards
More than 2,000 people took part in the sponsored walk at Wilton House in 2025
Salisbury District Hospital's charity says it's "excited and proud" to be hosting its flagship event for a 21st year.
Sign ups for this years Walk for Wards event, put on by the Stars Appeal, are already open, after more than 2,000 people took part in 2025's 20th anniversary event.
This years event is being held on Sunday 5th July, with more than 300 people already pledging to do their bit in support of the hospital.
The sponsored walk allows people to walk a 3km, 5km, 10k or 15km route around the Wilton House estate, whilst raising crucial money to support various hospital projects.
Community Fundraising Manager, Helena Sinclair, said the charity takes enormous pride in seeing the community come together in support of the hospital.
"It does raise a huge amount of money, for last year, the total now is over 170,000 pounds, which is just an astronomical amount of money to raise from one day," she said. "But it also is a really fantastic way to bring the local community together and just see them all walking to say thank you to Salisbury Hospital, to the staff here, for the care they've received, or walking in memory of a loved one."
So many reasons why people take part
The walk can see participants raising money for specific parts of the hospital, which can be related to their own experiences.
"Everyone has their own individual reasons," Helena said. "That might be for the neonatal unit if they've had their child be cared for when they were born or onto the children's ward for example or maybe friends, family or themselves being treated on our Pembroke Cancer Unit.
"It's kind of endless the reasons why people turn up and take part.
2025's event saw the debut of the 15km route, which saw a significant uptake among regular walkers, and is back by popular demand.
Helena said it also helped boost fundraising.
She said: "It's a great opportunity for those that have been doing it for years that they can push themselves to go on to that next challenge, but also reaching to a new audience who want to take on something a little bit harder, and it helped see an increase in fundraising as well because I say people are challenging themselves a little bit more."
Helena added that the route offers an adventure into the woods at Hare Warren and also spectacular views of the city of Salisbury.
People can sign up for this years Walk for Wards for free here, with walkers asked to raise a minimum sponsorship of £20 for the 3k,5k and 10k routes and £50 for the 15k.