The Lownds family were very pleased to see their last family photo with Harry – taken on the Ridgeway on New Year’s Day 2019 – feature in a photomontage in Sepsis Research FEAT’s video marking World Sepsis Day 2023.  A few days earlier they had received news that their ‘Walk for Harry 2023 Challenges’ had raised £1300 for the charity, with a further £240 donated in Gift Aid. The charity and the Lownds family are hugely grateful to the many friends and family members that helped them raise this sum.

In the final leg of their ‘Walk for Harry 2023 Challenges’ Becky and Matt took part in the 100km Peak District UltraChallenge. The route starts and finishes in Bakewell taking in Chatsworth park and the spectacular scenery of the White Peak along the way.  Becky completed the first 25km to Tideswell while Matt carried on back to Bakewell and then on through the night.  The second half took him along Lathkill Dale, up on to the High Peak Trail, past his home village of Bonsall and back down into the Derwent valley.  Becky and his sister Ruth met Matt as he looped around Haddon Hall to arrive at the finish at 06:38 – twenty minutes inside his goal of finishing the route within 24 hours.

Matt marked what would have been Harry’s 26^th birthday by walking 26 miles along the Ridgeway.  This was leg three of the Lownds family’s ‘Walk for Harry 2023 Challenges’ and formed the final part of his training for July’s Peak District UltraChallenge.

Matt joined fellow members of the British Diplomatic Service around the world taking part in the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office’s annual ‘GlobalMile’ charity fundraiser.  In the second leg of the Lownds family’s ‘Walk for Harry 2023 Challenges’ he completed a 20 mile loop route along the Ridgeway – pictured at the half-way point at the Lord Wantage monument near Lockinge.

On 29-30 April Becky, Matt and Harry’s Uncle Neil Allen took part in the Isle of Wight UltraChallenge as part of our 2023 ‘Walk for Harry’ set of challenges.  Neil walked through the night to complete the full 106 km continuous challenge. Becky finished at the half way point (53km) at the Isle of Wight Showground while Matthew continued on with Neil to keep him company as far as Seaview – 73km. Some before, during and after photographs below.

Harry’s Dad Matt took advantage of an invitation to attend the annual meeting of the University of Sussex’s Helena Normanton Society to meet up with the 2022/23 recipient of the scholarship, Tiffany Clements.

The Helena Normanton Society was established in 2015 to thank alumni and friends of the University who have made provision for Sussex in their will, and those who have expressed an interest in doing so.  It takes its name from lawyer and women’s rights activist Helena Normanton who was the first woman to be admitted to an Inn of Court – the Middle Temple – and the first woman to be briefed in the High Court and Old Bailey. She was the first woman to conduct a trial in America, one of the two first female King’s Counsel and the first married British woman to be issued a passport in her maiden name. She was also the first person to leave a legacy donation in her will to Sussex University in 1957, becoming a founding funder.

We are proud as a family to be supporting this campaign (Harry’s loss is featured in the Sepsis Research FEAT Legacy Pack available here)

In the course of 2023 Harry’s family and friends will be embracing a series of challenge walks totalling over 500 km to raise funds for Sepsis research. These begin with the 106 km Isle of Wight UltraChallenge on 29-30 April followed by 20 miles (32 km) for GlobalMile on 20 May, 26 miles (42 km) on what would have been Harry’s 26th birthday on 23 June and another 100 km UltraChallenge through the Peak District on 8-9 July.

Sepsis causes one in five deaths around the world and accounts for around 50,000 deaths in the UK every year – that’s more than breast and bowel cancer combined.

We don’t understand enough about Sepsis and the biological processes that can lead to serious illness or even death. That is why we urgently need to increase funding:

– to raise awareness of Sepsis

– for research: to understand the processes that lead to Sepsis, to design effective treatments for it & to help save lives.

Sepsis Research FEAT is a registered charity (SC049399) and is the only UK charity dedicated to funding Sepsis research.

Matt returned to Falmer on 3 August for a reunion of the ‘Class of ’83’ University of Sussex Mountaineering Club.  While there he and his fellow old-time USMCers had lunch with the 2021-22 recipient of the Harry Lownds memorial scholarship – and enthusiastic hill walker – Zac De Moor.  It was a real pleasure to spend some time with Zac and hear about how his genetics studies are going.

It was also a great opportunity to get together again with Rob Yates, UoS’s Head of Development, who along with his colleagues in the Alumni team has done so much to help us build and sustain the scholarship fund.