Thirteen-hour serialisation will be played to accompany the pair on the 35-mile challenge
Lee Cheney and Tim Coulson – on a quest with Lord of the Rings to inspire their journey(Image: Lee Cheney/justgiving.com)
Two friends have set themselves a charity challenge with a twist in aid of an East Yorkshire special school. To accompany their 35-mile hike from St Anne’s School, Hessle, to Flamborough Head, Lee Cheney and Tim Coulson will be listening to a 1981 BBC Radio 4 adaptation of Lord of the Rings, on tape.
The box set serialisation will help distract the pair from sore feet and tired legs on the journey, with a trusty tape deck strapped to their backs. Lee said: “We aim to complete the walk by listening to the play adaptation of Lord of the Rings, on a tape player.
“It’s 13 hours long, and we aim to finish the walk before the last tape finishes.” The friends have set themselves a £1,200 target – 1,200 being the approximate number of pages in the trilogy of books – and at almost halfway to that goal already, Lee and Tim are delighted “but looking to blow that number out of the water”.
Lee, whose eldest son attends St Anne’s, and Tim have set up a JustGiving appeal page. They aim to set out at 6am from the school on Saturday, May 23, with the goal of reaching Flamborough Head in less time than the 13 hours it took BBC Radio 4 to recreate The Lord of the Rings.
On the appeal page, Lee said: “This fellowship of two does not expect to encounter Black Riders, elves, giant sentient spiders, ring‑obsessed quasi‑hobbits, or the fiery majesty of Mount Doom—but they will encounter sore feet, tired legs, British weather, and the challenge of navigating the highways and byways of East Yorkshire to reach their destination. Will they complete their journey before Frodo throws the Ring into Mount Doom, or will the final episode finish before they do?
“Their walk is an ambitious effort to raise much‑needed funds for St Anne’s School at a time when SEN funding and support are under increasing pressure, and when children and families who need the most help are struggling to access the education that is the legal right of every child in the country.” Lee said the radio serial was an ambitious and faithful rendition of the source material, with a running time of 13 hours, from the moment Gandalf arrives for Bilbo’s 111th birthday party to the moment Frodo sets sail for the Grey Havens and Sam returns to Bag End with the good‑natured, “Well, I’m back.”
He said: “In March 1981, BBC Radio 4 released the first instalment of its much‑anticipated adaptation of The Lord of the Rings. Over the following 24 weeks, listeners followed the adventures of Frodo Baggins, Sam, Gandalf, Strider and the Fellowship of the Ring as they journeyed from the peaceful Shire to the foreboding Mount Doom, home of the Dark Lord Sauron and his armies of orcs.
“It was there that Frodo and Sam ultimately succeeded in destroying the One Ring, ending the War of the Ring and defeating Sauron.” Lee said it was because of the care and support St Anne’s School gives its pupils that they chose it as the beneficiary of this sponsored event.
“All money raised from the walk will go to St Anne’s School, its staff and its pupils.” St Anne’s School and Sixth Form College has about 130 pupils ranging in age from two to 19, its motto being “we all achieve”.
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