Bomb amputee plans 200-mile walk

Gill Hicks was the last survivor to be rescued from the carnage of 7/7

A woman who lost both her legs in the 7 July bombings is to walk 200 miles from Leeds to London as part of a campaign to bring communities together.

Gill Hicks is a co-founder of the Walk Talk event, which will start in Leeds on 19 July and end a month later.

She hopes people will join in "to meet, walk and talk with each other about matters of belief and conscience".

Three of the four suicide bombers, who killed 52 people and injured nearly 800 in London in 2005, had links to Leeds.

The walk will first head to the Beeston area of Leeds where bombers Shehzad Tanweer and Hasib Hussain lived and where their leader, Mohammed Sidique Khan, had many connections.

THE WALK TALK ROUTE Leeds Dewsbury Wakefield Barnsley Rotherham Sheffield Chesterfield Mansfield Nottingham Loughborough Leicester Market Harborough Northampton Bedford Luton St Albans London

Local people will be encouraged to join WalkTalk at locations along the route and the team aims to focus attention on projects which are already fostering local community cohesion.

Ms Hicks said: "During my time in hospital it became very clear what I should do with my life.

"I needed to make a significant difference - to work at building peace and reconciliation and to deter anyone who is thinking of following a path towards violent action."

She said she and her husband, Joe Kerr, had been searching for the right initiative to work on together.

"There seemed no better or greater challenge than for us to walk side by side, with each other and with others in the belief that each step will go some way to building closer communities," she said.

"We don't know what will happen along the route but what is important is that we are together and that we are committed to the 'conversation' which we believe is vital for a healthy society.

"This is a chance to meet, walk and talk with each other about matters of belief and conscience, especially those that are most challenging and divisive."