The whole agency set off in bright t-shirts last Friday for our annual walk in memory of the lovely Cheryl Rogers. One of our GADs and long serving W+Ker, Cheryl played a huge part in agency culture and we miss her terribly since she passed away from cancer in January last year.

Every year we take a Friday afternoon to get out of the agency, get to know each other a bit better, drink some pints and take a stroll round the east end where Cheryl lived. Something she would have loved doing. We were touched to be joined this year by Cheryl’s dad, step-mum and some family friends; some of whom made the journey all the way from New Zealand to be with us. The sun shone, we got a bit drunk, we had fun. It felt like Cheryl was smiling with us every step of the way.

It was the second time we’ve walked for Cheryl and once again we did it to raise some funds for St Joseph’s hospice. They are a truly special organisation who took brilliant care of Cheryl in her final days. Every year they help look after over 1,500 patients as well as offering much needed support to family, friends and the wider community surrounding the hospice. The work they do there is humbling and we’re so pleased to be able to do something practical to help build awareness of it and generate donations to help fund it.

Please do give generously….

Big thanks to everyone who walked, everyone who has donated and the Approach, Crate Brewery, The Peoples Tavern, Royal Inn on the the Park, the Pub on the Park and of course the Golden Heart who looked after us brilliantly and were kind enough to act as collection points; letting us put posters up and collection tins on the bars. It was a brilliant day Being More Cheryl.

Last Friday the sun shone down as the whole agency set off to have some fun and raise some funds in memory of a very dear colleague and friend, Cheryl Rogers.

Cheryl was a huge part of Wieden+Kennedy, working with us for 12 years. She threw herself into absolutely every thing that she did with passion from her early days on Nike, to her time spent in the Shanghai office, touching pretty much all our clients in one way or another during her time with us. She contributed a huge amount personally and professionally to W+K and helped make us the agency we are today.

Cheryl joined as an AM and was a Group Account Director by the time she passed away, growing up with us as the agency grew in size. Her positivity, kindness and enormous sense of fun made her much loved by everyone around her and made lots of us incredibly proud to call her a friend.

We wanted to get together as an agency to do something to celebrate her life, to get everyone together and have some fun; just the way that Cheryl would have organised.

And we also wanted to do something useful. Cheryl was cared for exceptionally well by St Joseph’s Hospice in Hackney. We were humbled by the work they do every day for so many people and wanted to raise some cash to help them continue to deliver such an amazing service to those in need of it.

So last Friday we launched the first annual W+K WALK – setting off around the East End where Cheryl lived (and visiting some local pubs) for a 10 mile walk in the sunshine. We donned specially designed colourful T-shirts and set out in the bright spring sunshine to explore Hackney a bit. We are proud to say we raised over £24k in doing so.

We were touched by the number of donations we received from friends and family, clients, partners and even people who passed us on the street. We are pleased to have created an event which has raised so much and also felt so fitting – Cheryl would have loved every minute of it – we hope it’s the first of many.

Thanks very much to every one who donated and everyone who took part. If you would like to donate to St Joseph’s, so you can here:

For more information on St Josephs and the work they do: www.stjh.org.uk