09 week on week
This week.
A charity walk.
Football.
Our town.
This is Wrexham, week on week.
Ruperts Rainbow
I usually plan my blog early in the week, but this week a chance photo (above) changed things. I went along to the Fearless in Devotion live podcast event and did some media shots for them. Between interviews, a gentleman in a charity T-shirt got up to chat and I took the opportunity to grab a picture.
Doing some research later, I found out about a fundraising and awareness campaign planned for Saturday. I made a mental note to check it out.
So it seems there was a walk around the Racecourse for 24 hours, starting at 2pm. I’ll pop down and get some pictures, I thought. And then I forgot about it… until I saw my mate and fellow photographer, Olly, had walked a couple of laps late on Friday night.
As most media people know, that annoyed me — I’d missed some pictures, and Rupert’s Rainbow had missed out on some publicity… and another photographer had already captured the event. I’ll catch them in the morning.
Saturday morning, I was enjoying my espresso and planning my day. I was nice and relaxed until:
“Shit. I was going to take some pictures of the 24-hour walk.”
I jump in the car and finally catch up with them. I walk along with Dave and his wife Siobhan, who was pushing Rupert around (although she did admit it was her first lap), take some shots, a short video, and promise to catch up with them again near the end.
I edit and post the video. It goes well on the socials.
Now, there’s nothing that annoys a photographer more than rain. It’s not getting wet — it’s the expensive equipment you worry about, and rain on the lens spoiling your next “brilliant” shot.
So when the rain came, after capturing the Wrexham players arriving at the ground, the safest place for me was the Turf Fanzone. I got the chance to shoot some fans and stay dry. We stand and chat, trying to decide who will play, who will score, what the score will be… when I look at my watch.
Shit. It’s happened again.
13:40. Twenty minutes until the end of the walk. I want to capture this.
I make my excuses and tell Olly I’m off. Olly looks at his watch and realises he's forgotten too. We both rush off to find the walkers.
They appear around the corner and announce they can’t finish yet — it wasn’t 24 hours. One more lap.
Olly and I join them like a pair of glory seekers. We film, we take pictures, we record the 93rd lap. The rain stops, and I capture the last of the 85,000 steps.
The end was slightly underwhelming, to be honest. The Wrexham fans were caught up in the imminent game, and the walkers were relieved to have finished. They hugged, got pictures with Wrex the Dragon, and looked forward to a pint or two to celebrate their brilliant effort.
And it was a brilliant effort — because this effort got me involved.
It’s a sad thing to admit, but I’m on social media constantly and I see several campaigns asking for help and, like many others, I scroll past them. But a simple T-shirt worn at a football podcast night set me on the path I find myself on today.
I’ve now fully signed up to all their pages. Sharing the story. Sharing the aims. Sharing the hope that the funds — and the awareness — grow.
The walk came from a place of wanting to do something meaningful for our son Rupert. He has an ultra-rare, life-threatening condition called alternating hemiplegia of childhood (AHC), and we’re trying to raise funds and awareness to help give him a future.
The idea was to do a 24-hour continuous walk around the STōK Cae Ras in Wrexham—somewhere that means a lot to us as a family. I’ve worked in the town for years, been involved with the club, and Rupert receives care locally, so it felt like the right place.
Planning-wise, it was fairly simple but relied heavily on people. Andy and James were with me the whole way—they committed from the start and we worked out a shift pattern so there were always at least two of us walking overnight. Others joined in along the way for laps, which made a huge difference, especially during the tougher hours.
We started at 2pm and just kept going—through the night, into the next day—finishing 24 hours later. In total we covered 93 laps, 58 miles, and over 85,000 steps. The hardest part was definitely the early hours of the morning, but the support we had—from people joining us, stopping to chat, clapping, and messaging—kept us going.
Moments like you joining for that final lap are exactly what made it special. It wasn’t just about the walking—it became something much bigger, with the whole community getting behind Rupert.
We’re now continuing to fundraise and raise awareness, as we still have a long way to go, but this was a huge step forward.
Happy for you to include whatever helps tell the story, and thanks again for wanting to share it—it really does mean a lot 💙
So well done to everyone who got involved — from helping organise, donating, those who clapped or beeped, those who did the walk, and even those two photographers who nearly missed the end of the walk because of a little bit of rain.
And you can still help.
To donate. Justgiving page
And if you can’t afford to give, it costs nothing to follow Rupert’s Rainbow on social media and share. The more shares, the more people will get to know.
Wales Women in Wrexham
The FA of Wales sent the Women's team to the Wrexham Miners Project before their game.
This is Wrexham, week on week.
The football club, the music scene, the people and the places that make the town what it is..