The day the Zombies took over Birmingham

via Nicky for Birmingham Children’s Hospital Charity

Zombies Takeover Birmingham

Over six hundred ‘walking dead’ took to the streets today to raise money for Birmingham Children’s Hospital Charity.

The horrifying horde – which included several brides, Shaun of the Dead, Where’s Wally and life-like doctors and nurses, animals and patients – set off from Victoria Square at 3pm for Birmingham’s eighth annual Zombie Walk.

Birmingham Children’s Hospital patient Rafe Walker led the 1.3 mile walk, weaving the terrifying zombies in and out of the backstreets of the city as they made eerie groans and showed off their best slow walks.

Sixteen year old Rafe, who has been living with an inoperable brain tumour since he was eight years old, says the Zombie Walk is always the highlight of his fundraising calendar. As he explains:

“This is the third year I’ve led the Zombie Walk and I absolutely love it. It is always ‘dead good’ fun. I enjoy getting involved and giving back to the amazing hospital that has cared for me since I was eight years old. All the staff at the hospital treat me like one of the family and so it is great to be able to do something like this to help them raise valuable funds.”

Callum (9), Reece (8) and Kian (9) take part in this year’s Zombie Walk Birmingham

The organisers are anticipating this year’s fundraising total will be close to £10,000, all of which will go towards supporting the children and young people treated at the hospital.

The first Zombie Walk took place in Birmingham in 2009 and was the brainchild of fundraiser Jamie Chapman.

Zombies take over Birmingham city centre

He said: “It’s been fantastic to watch the Zombie Walk grow over the last eight years.

“The public’s reaction is always incredibly inspiring and seeing thousands of zombies stumbling through the city centre is definitely not something to be missed.”

Miranda Williams, Public Fundraising Manager at Birmingham Children’s Hospital Charity, said: “Every year the Zombie Walk just gets bigger and better.

“Since it started eight years ago the event has raised over £36,000 for our hospital, which has made a huge difference to the lives of our brave children and their families.

Zombies rise from the dead for the eighth annual Birmingham Zombie Walk

“Today’s event was a huge success and it was fantastic to see participants dressed in their scariest of attires and wearing their most blood-curdling make-up to help us raise even more valuable funds.”

Donations to Birmingham Children’s Hospital as part of the Zombie Walk can still be made online or via text. Simply TEXT ‘ZOMB88′ and ‘£2′, ‘£5′, ‘£10′ or ‘£20′ to 70070.

For further information visit birminghamzombies.com.