Oxford Playhouse administrator Jane Hornsby on why she walked so far

On July 3, I arrived at John O’Groats having left Land’s End 63 days earlier, somewhat foot sore after 1,187 miles, but very fit and quite tanned.

Why did I do this walk? I wanted to raise money for the continuation and extension of the work that Oxford Playhouse does with children, young people and the community and to enable the theatre to do as much as possible of this outreach work for free.

I have an ingrained belief that without art and culture in our lives, no matter how wealthy and affluent we are, it would be difficult to live life in any meaningful way.

It seems to me that’s why television and radio are such an important part of our culture, and live theatre and music thrive in our society.

I see on a daily basis the benefits drama brings to people. To me the important thing is that drama is a shared experience and it draws people together rather than pushing them apart.

Oxford Playhouse is a Playhouse for everyone. It is a charity and to continue its very valuable outreach work it has to raise money through a myriad of ways.

Without grants from the Arts Council, University of Oxford, city council and fundraising schemes such as sponsored walks like mine, it cannot possibly fund the free initiatives that it provides and pioneering work such as its Playhouse Plays Out Tent.

Over the last two summers this tent has toured fetes, schools, open days, carnivals and fun days throughout Oxfordshire.

It has provided a completely free theatrical experience to families at local events where children were able to dress up, colour, play, meet the actors and watch a play; grown-ups could enjoy being with their families, laugh and relax and have a cuppa — all free of charge. Six-thousand people saw free theatre shows in the tent in the summer of 2013 and although the tent has not toured this year, it is hoped that funds raised through adventures like mine will enable it to tour again next summer. The tent is by no means the only outreach work that the theatre does. Oxford Playhouse works to support individuals, families, other charities and schools by offering performances for those who are blind, partially sighted, deaf, hard of hearing, physically disabled, who have special needs or who need free or cheap tickets.

None of this comes cheaply and the theatre continually looks to find new ways to make its limited means stretch. I am privileged to be able to afford to go to the theatre but many people are not.

Raising money through my walk has been an exciting and incredibly demanding experience on a personal basis and was driven by my desire to make sure that the joy of being able to see live theatre should be available to as many people as possible.

One of the delights of my walk was finding out how universally kind people are and how generous. Many of the people that I stayed with along the route made donations. It didn’t seem to matter than most of the people I met would never go to the theatre in Oxford, they just supported the vision that art matters and matters very much. Communities flourish and prosper when they have the opportunity to gather together to enjoy a collective experience.

That is what much of the outreach work that Oxford Playhouse contributes towards — to ensure we have a community that thrives. So, in short, I am proud of how far I have walked but I am even more proud of the money I have managed to raise for a cause close to my heart.