Hello! Welcome to my website. I’m Alexander, a final year engineering student. I had a bit of time on my hands after my last assignments, and before graduation. To say a big Thank You to my St Wilfrid’s family for all their support throughout my life (particularly in music and singing), I walked from St Wilfrid’s Church in Haywards Heath to Rome, in Italy, as a fundraiser to support repairs to the leaking vestry at the church.

I set off on Easter Sunday 2024 (31st March), heading towards Canterbury on the first leg of the 2400 km (1500 mile) journey. From Canterbury Cathedral, I joined the Via Francigena route to Rome through France, Switzerland and Italy. For more information about the route, see here. Whilst walking, I posted weekly updates on this website. If you are interested in seeing the archive, click here. In the end it took 99 days to walk to Rome, and I’m glad to be able to say I made it back home safely on the 8th of July.

A key reason for undertaking he walk, was as a fundraiser for St Wilfrid’s. Thank you ever so much to everyone who has contributed so far (we’ve raised over £5000!). If you would be interested in helping out by sponsoring the walk, there is still a need (with latest cost estimates at £250,000). I continue to be stunned by the generosity so many people have shown in supporting St Wilfrid’s. Thank you ever so much.

The details in brief: the vestry and toilet area at St Wilfrid’s is in need of a lot of attention. The roof is leaking and much of the contents is very often wet. Water is now leaking into the main church building, which is a big problem, given the roof is Victorian wood. The fundraising is for the repairs to the vestry, and to provide proper facilities (toilets and kitchenette) for both the church, and to enable wider use of our church building within our local community. The scale of the project is dependent on our ability to fundraise.