On Friday 20^th March, the SCT Strutters are taking part in the London Walk 2026. I sat down with our CEO and member of the SCT Strutters, Louisa Snow, to talk about her previous London Walk experience, training, and her feelings in the run up to this year’s nighttime walk to raise funds for and awareness of the homelessness crisis.

Why did you decide to take part in the London Walk?

Partly as a personal challenge, I enjoy endurance events. But also as a statement to make at a time when the rough sleeping figures are at a record high yet again, and also when our sector faces probably more challenges in terms of financial stability than has previously been the case. Donations are down, the cost-of-living crisis has impacted people’s ability to donate to charities directly, corporate support has changed over the years, trusts and foundations are ever more competitive. It feels like a perfect storm: the need is increasing exponentially, and the support that’s available to people is becoming ever more difficult to sustain.

I also want to stand in solidarity with our homelessness colleagues who are working tirelessly to ensure people get the support they need.

You took part in the London Walk last year, how did you find that experience?

Tough – tougher than I expected it to be. I hadn’t previously walked a marathon, though I’d run plenty, and I went into it with a bit of a blasé attitude thinking it would be really easy. It wasn’t easy, it was actually quite a challenge.

But you’re taking on the marathon again this year. Do you feel more confident this time having had some experience?

Definitely not! I was very well intentioned in terms of a training plan, but life gets in the way, so no.

Speaking of training, you’ve got the practice walk coming up this week. How are you feeling about that?

I’m looking forward to meeting more of our team. We’re a small but very committed group so I’m looking forward to spending some time with them and also seeing some of the sites that we’re very lucky to have on our doorstep.

Absolutely. Besides the practice walk, have you been doing much training?

I did a long walk – partly to practice the training walk that we’re doing on Saturday – which was great, I was quite enthusiastic about it at the time. Then I repeated that two weeks later, got to Tower Bridge and got really bored so Lime biked it home!

This leads me on to something I’ve been thinking about. The walk obviously takes you through the night, is there anything you’ll be doing to pass the time?

Hopefully chatting to my teammates – I’m hoping we remain as a group. I’ll also talk to anyone we meet along the way. London obviously has a very significant nighttime economy so there will be a lot of people around. A lot of it will just be conversations as we go.

And is there anything you are particularly nervous about?

Being a bit chilly, and maybe the rain. It didn’t rain last year but given how much rain we’ve had this year, it might well do this time. That said, it’s all about planning – there’s no such thing as bad weather.

Finally, is there anything you’d like to say to the people reading this?

Join us, share the message, and support the cause. Let’s send a clear message to anybody that’s prepared to listen that we’re deeply concerned about the continued rise in people having no alternative but to sleep rough. Everyone’s working as hard as they possibly can to support people in that situation, but we can’t do it alone. Support from the wider community makes that work possible.

Good luck to all our walkers taking part in the London Walk on 20^th March. You can support Louisa and the SCT Strutters by donating to their JustGiving campaign here.