ORGANISERS are seeking entries for this year’s Pontypool Walk For Life, and hope the event’s new date will reward them with better weather.

Last year’s walk took place three days into spring, but participants had to brave snow on the ground and temperatures barely above freezing to raise funds for the Kidney Wales Foundation.

The walk, organised by Andrew and Annette Woolfall, is among a series planned for Sunday April 27.

“The route is different this year, but it is still along the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal,” said Mr Woolfall, who three years ago completed the walk just five weeks after a life-changing kidney transplant.

The Argus previously reported how the transplant came for Mr Woolfall five years after he was put on the transplant list.

The operation freed him from the vital but exhausting shackles of dialysis, which he was having three times a week by the time the call came.

Speaking about the walk, Mr Woolfall said: “We’ll start (at 11am) and end at the canal basin at Pontymoile walking to the Star Inn (at Mamhilad) and back, which is about five miles.

“Sponsorship forms are going out and we’ve had inquiries from people we haven’t heard from before, so hopefully the turnout will be good.”

The 2011 walk raised more than £2,500 for the Kidney Wales Foundation. After a break in 2012, last year’s walk brought in around £1,500.

The 43-year-old former lorry driver’s kidney problems developed 12 years ago due to complications with diabetes, which he was diagnosed with aged seven and which also rendered him blind in his late 20s.

Mr Woolfall hopes to do this year’s walk with his wife and son Lewis, despite a worrying few months of steroid and drug treatment since a suspected rejection last autumn of the kidney he received.

“Annette’s been doing a lot of the organising but I’m determined to take part,” he said.

* Sponsorship forms are available from Mr Woolfall on 01495 760231. There is also a Pontypool Walk For Life 2014 Facebook page.Visit kidneywales.com/walk-for-life