When the End to End fund-raiser gets underway on Saturday it will be with a new twist attached to the distribution of funds. Previously, only charities chosen by the organisers have benefitted, and while that will still be the case, a portion of the revenue is going to be put towards a long-term project to improve the Railway Trail.

"The End to End walk is a significant user of the Trail, and we felt it was time to return the favour and do something good for it," organising committee member Stephen Davidson says.

"Each year we have about 1500 people who participate in the event, and we have received a lot of feedback from walkers saying, 'We love the Railway Trail but don't you think something could be done to improve it?' So this year we have decided to allocate part of the proceeds to the Railway Trail, which we see as having the same social benefit to Bermuda and Bermudians as funds going to the charities because it goes through every part of the Island in one way or another."

Therefore, End to End has set up a special group to lead what is now known as 'The Railway Trail Vision Plan'. Its members are: Stephen and Ccile Davidson, Anne Mello, Ian Boatman, Starla Williams, and Government's Parks Planner Drew Pettit.

End to End also recognised the need to provide more activity for visitors as part of Bermuda's tourism development initiative and also, from a health prospective, to provide residents with more outlets for exercise.

In formulating its plan of action, arising out of talks with various stakeholders about the Trail, including people who live on or near it, or who are responsible for it, End to End learned that they all had a collection of fragmented ideas and plans but no opportunity to discuss them collectively and form a consensus.

"Our vision is to unite all of the stakeholders into an action plan, and to focus attention on the plan so it become a priority for change," Mr. Davidson says. "We have also picked up some early work done by the Bermuda Alliance for Tourism as an effort to improve the Trail, and inherited many of their volunteers."

The End to End committee member, himself an avid walker and co-author with his wife of 'Hiking Bermuda', a book of local walks, stresses that, in pursuing its vision plan, End to End will not be competing with Government agencies responsible for the Trail.

On the contrary, the Ministry of the Environment's Parks team will be an active participant in the project.

"Drew Pettit is the Parks Planner who is responsible for looking after and evolving the Bermuda park system, and he will be participating on the management committee of this effort," he says. "Government has a park management plan for the Railway Trail which Mr. Drew maintains.

"What we hope to do is solicit public input to ensure that the Trail's development matches people's expectations of what they want."

As a solid first step forward to give the Railway Trail project impetus, Mr. Davidson says End to End is bringing in a specialist US organisation this summer to work with itself and Government on a basic plan.

"Rails to Trail's Conservancy (www.railstotrails.org) have experience in helping governments to create master plans for railway trails, as well as community groups trying to build new greenways for the first time on abandoned railway tracks or utility corridors.

"They are consultant specialists who have worked extensively in the US, Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom and Australia on everything from big regional projects to a little town trying to put together a trail for local people to use, and they are very skilful.

"They will be coming in to work with us, the Department of Parks, and other Government agencies. We are not bringing them in to (replace people who are already here and) tell us what to do."

Mr. Davidson emphasises that End to End's desire to work closely with Government departments in creating a broad plan for creating "a good system of sidewalks and tribe roads to allow people to get on to the Railway Trail easily from their neighbourhoods, and from the Trail to interesting places like the parks" is because it wants the plan to gather public support for carrying through the initiatives.

"The Bermuda Government has a very defined process when creating public policy that requires consultation with members of the community, particularly in relation to parkland and public spaces, so this vision plan will seek that public input and create what we hope will be a management plan we can stick to," Mr. Davidson says.

Stressing the importance of fostering and sustaining public support to ensure that the plan does not gather dust on a shelf somewhere, he adds: "We need to focus public attention on the Trail so that it becomes an important feature of Bermuda which merits attention from the Government, the Police, and the immediate community themselves to look after it."

Reiterating that End to End will fund the vision planning exercise with a volunteer team comprised of people who are active in the annual walk, in addition to other community and environmental groups, Mr. Davidson sums up the overall plan as follows:

Bring in the Trail planning specialists this summer to work with the Department of Parks in order to understand their participation and challenges regarding the Railway Trail;

Hold a series of public sessions with stakeholders at summer's end to garner their input regarding the Trail's future;

Subsequently provide an independent report to the Parks Department to be used in the management of the Trail going forward.

"We hope that one output will be a clear, publicly-supported management plan so that, if needed, the Parks Department and trail users can lobby more effectively for budget support for funding from external sources such as corporate foundations," Mr. Davidson says.

"End to End has already received expressions of interest from several local and international companies who wish to get involved, either through organising their staff to participate in pro-Trail activities, or to consider capital projects."

To register online for End to End on Saturday to go website www.bermudaendtoend.bm