Mike Peters of The Alarm talks about By Your Side/Snowden Rocks

Mike Peters of The Alarm is currently participating in the By Your Side Walk across North Wales with his wife Jules. Both have received a cancer diagnosis.

Through the By Your Side Walk, the couple  encourage people to give thanks to the NHS (National Health Service) staff who continue to provide treatment and care for them in North Wales.

The walk - over 130 miles in total - focuses on raising awareness of a different type of cancer every day. Peters launched the By Your Side cancer campaign two years ago with the North Wales NHS charity Awyr Las to help others get quality treatment. Since then, they've raised over a quarter million pounds.

In an interview with Music Minded before taking on this endeavor, I asked Peters if it requires a lot of preparation to build up stamina given his health concerns.

"To be honest, I’ve always stayed fit for life. I’ve always run, I’ve always trained and done a lot of walking. Always looked after myself. It’s going to be a challenge to walk that many miles in that space of time. It’s for a great cause. I’m lucky to be alive because of our health system in the UK. I’ve got a lot to be grateful for. My wife’s just come through a breast cancer diagnosis. I’m grateful she’s alive. We’re doing it together. I’m sure it will be empowering for us and I’m sure we’ll meet the challenge. We set the target [for amount of money per step] three years ago. It’s amazing what has happened in that space of time…we’ll definitely smash the target by the time we finish the walk. Hopefully, we’ll be still be walking tall at the end of the day, rest and play some rock ‘n’ roll."

Along with associated initiatives, By Your Side provides opportunities for children and young people to absorb important public health messages while participating in fun group activities, school groups and local music groups to take part in community musical events, businesses, families and other groups to join in with fundraising activities. It also provides people of all ages and all abilities in North Wales to get involved in a distinctive community project which has the potential to create a significant and lasting legacy.

Everything culminates this Saturday-Sunday with Snowdon Rocks, a music festival featuring a performance by Peters, The Christians, more than a dozen acts, DJs and others at The Heights in Llanberis, Wales.

For more information:

www.lovehopestrength.co.uk
www.byyoursideappeal.org
www.thealarm.com