TESCO are delighted to be the principal sponsor of this year's Great North Walk. We are very aware of the history of the event from its first staging at Newburn, on the North bank of the Tyne, west of Newcastle, in 1988.

Since then, the walk has taken in some of the NorthEast region's most attractive venues, which has included walking along windswept beaches at Druridge Bay, in Northumberland, to some of the high moorlands in Durham.

The most northerly venue has been at Alnwick and the most southerly in the beautiful Wear Valley where, in fact, the past four Great North Walks have been staged, including as guests of the Bishop of Durham at his home at Auckland Castle.

This year's event, where we are delighted to be working in partnership with Darlington Borough Council, will see the walk at its most southerly venue yet.

We are intrigued that the route in the countryside to the north of Darlington links up some of the old medieval packhorse and drovers roads, with all the historic significance attached to them.

Tesco want to help their customers live more healthily and support efforts by individuals to improve their general health and wellbeing, and see the Great North Walk as an excellent way to do this as, ideally, people will undertake some preparation for the walk and hopefully will be 'bitten by the bug' and seek out their local walking groups and stay active after this year's event.

We very much hope that we will be able to repeat the success of the Great North Walk model in other areas of the country as part of Tesco's efforts to help people lead healthier lives.