ALMOST 200 people joined a charity walk at the weekend to remember a Berkeley toddler who died from meningitis 10 years ago.

The walk from Thornbury to Berkeley, in memory of Sam Virgo who passed away in 2008, was the eleventh to take place since his death, fundraising for Stroud-based charity Meningitis Now and their campaign for a vaccine to Meningitis B.

“Originally the walks were to help fundraise the vaccine. We have the vaccine now,” said Sam’s brother Steve, “but now the fundraising is to get it into place and available for children who need it.”

“At the time of Sam’s death in 2008, meningitis was still behind the scenes,” he added.

“There had been an outbreak in Stroud 15 years prior but there was nothing really out there about it, so we started organising the walks to get raise awareness and that there are charities out there to help.”

More than 190 people, including many first time walkers, met at the Black Horse on Saturday morning for the walk.

Everyone completed the feat, which finished up at the Berkeley Arms, taking around three hours to travel the 10 miles.

“It was something,” said Steve. “There were a lot of new people who had not walked before and they were quite shocked by how many people there actually were. It was quite amazing to be stood there in amongst the crowd of almost 200 people.”

Funds are still being collected and counted for the weekend’s trek, but organisers confirmed that over the past 10 years, more than £150,000 has been raised in memory of Sam.

In last year’s walk, friends, family and supporters let off 120 sponsored orange balloons with some even reaching as far as Ireland.