Hello, I'm David Howell, the co-founder of Foot Trails hiking tours.

In late October I will be taking a pilgrimage on foot from St Michael's church, Melksham to Salisbury Cathedral. Walking over 40 miles I will be raising money for the National Churches Trust, Historic Churches Trust, and St Michael's church in Melksham.

As a guide & walk creator there is one element of our English story that I'm always encouraging visitors to explore regardless of their faith or views; our local churches.

In most rural communities our church buildings represent 900 years of life; christenings, weddings, feast days, Saints' days, summer fetes, celebrations and funerals. They are simply amazing buildings that hold both a connection to our past & ancestors, and our hopes for the future. Largely reliant on volunteers and their own fundraising, these buildings need our continued help to last another 900 years.

My home church St Michael's in Melksham is seeking to invest in its space, to make it more open and accessible for both church worship & community events. Re-ordering the seating to make it more flexible, and adding kitchen & toilet facilities into this 900 year old building. A 1/3rd of the money raised will be donated to this exciting project to reorder and add to the facilities at the church.

You can read about St Michael's phase 2 build project here - https://www.melksham.church/build

The remainder will be donated to the National Churches Trust and Historic Churches Trust for their ongoing work to support our church buildings.