Stars Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor discovered yesterday they owed 16-year-old Julie Ibbetson, of Chorleywood, £28.

They had sponsored her for 10s a mile each on the mammoth 30-mile Oxfam walk from all parts of London which converged at Wembley.

Julie, who set off before 8am from Amersham, with about 7,000 others, had to admit defeat at Harrow, 11 hours later, two miles from the Wembley Stadium destination, where pop groups were waiting to entertain the young people at the end of their journey.

She had raised a total of £140 by her efforts.

The cost? Sore feet and Monday away from school to recuperate.

Daughter of a freelance director of photography, her father had taken her sponsor form to work to gather backers for her, hence an illustrious list, which also included Richard Harris.

 

When it came to the reckoning, the sponsored Oxfam walk was costly. The broiling sun turned the 30 miles along each of 12 routes into Wembley Stadium into a marathon.

It took its toll. Of the 3,000 or so who left Harpenden, 500 at least were treated by Watford and Bushey ambulance and nursing division of the St John Ambulance Brigade along the way – eight of them finding themselves in the Central Middlesex Hospital, there being no further room at Wembley Hospital.

Blisters, pulled muscles and heat exhaustion were the most common problems.
In total, more than 10,000 needed treatment.

A party of walkers was seen to stop in Bushey High Street, lie on the ground and press their feet against shop windows to cool them.The sun blazed so fiercely the tar melted on the roads.

[From the Watford Observer of July 18, 1969]  

NOSTALGIA NOTE: A total of around £250,000 was raised for Oxfam by the event (getting on for £3 million in today’s money). The Wembley concert which greeted walkers featured, among others, Love Affair, Status Quo, Alan Price and Yes.