Annual sponsored bridge walk set to help people in Bangladesh

Locals are being urged to support Christian Aid by taking part in the annual sponsored walk across the Forth Road Bridge.
Christian Aid fundraisers with their cooking pots near the Forth Road Bridge.Christian Aid fundraisers with their cooking pots near the Forth Road Bridge.
Christian Aid fundraisers with their cooking pots near the Forth Road Bridge.

The charity is hoping this year’s event, taking place on Saturday, April 23 from 2p.m. to 5p.m., will be even bigger and better.

For 44 years, Christian Aid Scotland’s supporters have raised thousands of pounds through their annual sponsored walk across the Forth Road Bridge to help the world’s poorest communities.

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This year, the focus of Christian Aid Week (May 15-21) is Bangladesh. The country’s location, geography, large rivers and monsoon climate make it incredibly vulnerable to natural disasters, including floods and cyclones. Bangladesh is home to 160 million people, making it one of the most densely populated countries on earth, four fifths of whom live on less than £1.30 a day.

As climate change worsens, average rainfall is rising, and as extreme rain and floods get more frequent, difficult dry spells in between them are getting longer. When the water begins to rise, people use their large cooking pots to save their possessions and even their babies from being washed away in the dangerous flood water.

With this in mind, organisers have asked some bridge cross fundraisers to bring their cooking pots filled with what they might save if their homes were flooded. As in Bangladesh, they can only ‘save’ what can be fitted into their cooking pots.

Amy Menzies, events fundraiser for Christian Aid Scotland said: “The Forth Bridge Cross has been a hugely successful event organized by the communities north and south of the bridge for 44 years. We are grateful to everyone for their support every year and always look forward to the generations of people taking to Scotland’s most iconic bridge to raise money for people like those affected by the floods in Bangladesh”.

To take part in the Forth Bridge Cross register at www.christianaid.org.uk/walks or call Amy on 0141 241 6138.