A WESTBURY man and his family have taken on the West Highland Way, a walk of around 96 miles, to raise money for Westbury Guides to go on a trip to Switzerland 
next year.
The Guides will be going to stay near the village of Adelboden, which boasts spectacular alpine scenery and is the home to one of the World Centres of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts.
The Curtis family are key figures in leading and helping out at Westbury’s guiding groups, with mum Christine Curtis and daughters Elizabeth, and Fiona all involved, while daughter Emma has recently moved away after many years with Westbury’s Guide group.
This month Christine’s husband Geoff, daughter Emma Street, son-in-law Adam Street, and brother-in-law Richard took on the West Highland Way to raise money for the trip. Despite some miserable weather, the group completed the challenge and have raised around £600 for the Guides.
Covering 96 miles (154km) the West Highland Way starts at Milngavie and covers lowland moors, dense woodland, rolling hills, and mountainous regions in the Scottish Highlands, before finishing in Fort William.
Geoff said, “We’ve done it, and successfully completed it! We started off on flat Tarmac paths and ended up climbing mountains. My daughter hurt her hip on the first day, but apart from a few blisters and nasty midges, there was nothing major that got in our way.
“We celebrated the finish by going to the pub! There’s a pub which does certificates for people who have done the walk, and you can have a celebratory drink.”
23 members aged between 10 and 14 from the Westbury Guide units will travel to Switzerland in July next year, where they will do various activities such as walking and finding out about the local culture.
The group is now busy fundraising for their adventure. They have a raffle coming up, with a first prize of a family ticket to the Theatre Royal pantomime, which will be drawn at their Christmas Bazaar. They are also arranging to do bag-packing at local supermarkets.
