PEOPLE young and old took part in a fundraising walk on Sunday for the Gazette's appeal to buy a new ambulance for Wiltshire St John Ambulance.

The walk across Salisbury Plain takes place every year and is organised by Save the Children.

This year it teamed up with St John Ambulance, and the money raised by walkers will be split between Save the Children and St John Ambulance.

Hundreds took part including a contingent of 47 St John Ambulance workers and volunteers.

Walkers had a choice of two walks; a 22-mile walk starting from Chitterne and ending at Salisbury Cathedral, and a shorter walk of ten miles starting from Druid's Lodge.

Gazette writer Debby Elley and her neighbour, Jo Corbett, took part in the ten-mile walk.

Mrs Elley said: "Ten miles is just enough to be taxing. By the eighth mile we could really feel our muscles aching and our feet felt quite sore too.

"But the countryside was fantastic and the weather was really kind to us. There was a real sense of achievement by the time we got to the finish at Salisbury Cathedral.

"Having said that, the toughest part was walking back to the coach after we had collected our certificates."

The Gazette's appeal is to raise £40,000 to buy a state of the art Crusader ambulance for use in Wiltshire.

Mrs Salmons added: "The walk was for a really good cause. My mother-in-law met her husband through St John Ambulance so I've got a personal reason to be grateful to them.

"The work they do is fantastic.We were both really pleased to do our bit to raise cash for a new ambulance."