A fantastic opportunity has just arisen for a partner/sponsor to be involved with the Isle of Wight Walking Festival, which is now in its twelfth year and is the largest in the UK.

The festival's Title sponsor for five years has now gone through business transformation, and as their strategy has changed they will no longer be supporting events, which includes the Isle of Wight Walking Festival - leaving open this exciting opportunity.

The festival has won the BBC Countryfile Magazine Readers Award for the best Walking Festival, and is currently shortlisted for the CIPR - Best Event Award and also the 2009 Tourism ExSELLence Award for the Best Event.

This event would be the perfect opportunity for a sponsor/partner as it fits in nicely with the idea of reducing carbon footprints and also with healthy lifestyles, playing a role in helping people lead healthier lives by offering healthier product choices and encouraging consumers to lead active lives.

The festival is looking for Title, Gold, Silver and Bronze sponsors and also for product and clothing sponsors or contra deals. 2008 was the tenth anniversary of the founding of the Walking Festival, and in excess of 24,500 walkers took part. Also to add to the celebrations, a Celebratory Walking Weekend was organised - four days in October. This was so successful that the organisers decided to make it a permanent fixture in the events calendar. It attracted over 2,000 walkers to the festival, which is great for the Island's tourism as it extends the holiday season.

The festival has been featured on BBC Countryfile in 2009 and on numerous other TV programmes, with many radio interviews both locally and all over the country.

"We have become quite infamous for our Speed Dating Walks, and to date have had three weddings, and possibly a fourth one on the horizon! We have also introduced into the programme an evening at the theatre which has proved really popular, and to date we have had Ben Fogle, Alan Hinkes and Janet Street-Porter, and next year we have Brian Blessed (which will be a complete sell out).

"We have increased the programme of walks from 39 to over three hundred, and it has developed into a Walking Festival which offers walks for all ages and abilities, and fits well into the healthy initiative. We look forward to hearing from you soon".

Contact: Elaine Cesar, Events Officer

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