Shine Night Walks 2025: Walk, Fundraise & Inspire Hope
Shine Walks are a wonderful way to socialise, exercise and fundraise during the colder months.
At a time of the year when it’s tempting to stay indoors, Shine Night Walks are a great way to get outdoors and get active for a good cause.
It’s a chance to light up your city’s streets by dressing up in sparkles and fairy lights. You can get creative in what you wear as you walk with friends and family.
The 10k events, which raise money for cancer research, take place across the UK, passing famous landmarks and lighting the streets.
Shine Night Walk: what is it?
Dates and location
Shine Night Walks take place across the UK in autumn.
The 2025 events are taking place between September and October in most major cities.
2025’s events are taking place in:
- London – 20 September 2025
- Edinburgh – 27 September 2025
- Bristol – 10 October 2025
- Glasgow – 30 August 2025
- York – 27 September 2025
- Southampton – 10 October 2025
- Birmingham – 5 September 2025
- Norwich – 4 October 2025
- Leicester – 18 October 2025
- Nottingham – 12 September 2025
- Leeds – 4 October 2025
- Cambridge – 18 October 2025
- Cardiff – 26 September 2025
- Newcastle & Gateshead – 4 October 2025
- Liverpool – 2025 date coming soon
- Manchester – date TBC
Distance
There’s different distances you can take on the Shine Night Walks.
Choose the distance that best suits your ability and consider what each route would be like.
There is an option to choose a 10k walk and in London there is the option to do the half-marathon distance or a full marathon distance.
Walking with friends can help to raise vital funds for life-saving research. In the last 50 years, Cancer Research has helped double cancer survival in the UK.
Registration process
When you sign up for a Shine Night Walk there is the option to select the type of cancer you would like your funds to go to. This means you potentially raise money for causes more personal to you.
People of all abilities can take part and it is advised the 10k walk will take between 1.5 to 3 hours to complete.
In order to enter, you need to fill in a form declaring if you are taking part as an adult or a child. You will then need to pay a registration fee.
The price varies for each location, but for smaller cities it is generally £17.49 for a participant 18 and older.
The prices for London are as follows:
- Full Marathon – £39.99
- Half Marathon – £39.99
- 10k – £19.99
Impact of fundraising
The impacts of fundraising are far reaching.
Money you help to raise can go directly to helping people and can fund research which could have long-lasting effects.
Previous Shine Night Walks have raised a massive amount for Cancer Research.
In Manchester, £230,000 was raised for Cancer Research UK last year during Shine Night Walk.
Southampton Shine Night Walk also raised over £100,000 for Cancer Research UK last year.
According to Cancer Research UK, over the last 40 years, their work has helped double breast cancer survival, and they have been a key player in the development of radiotherapy, as well as developing 8 of the world’s top 10 cancer drugs.
Crowdfunding for events like this can be a massive boost for charities, with individual amounts stacking up.
Fundraising tips for Shine Night Walks
If you’ve not fundraised before, it can be tricky to know where to get started.
Luckily, our fundraising tips are here to help you and get started.
Set a clear and realistic goal
Be clear in how much you want to raise and consider if this is a doable goal for you to reach.
You don’t want to set an unrealistic end goal so you should consider your personal financial situation, the number of friends and family you can engage and, if you’ve fundraised before, consider the results of this last attempt.
Try to make it meaningful and use milestones (eg £100 to support vital research for 2 days) to show how funds will make a difference.
Try and set the fundraising goal with enough time to reach it too.
Share your story
The most crucial part of fundraising is explaining your story and specifically why you are fundraising.
Personal stories connect emotionally with donors, and sharing why you’re walking and why the cause matters to you can inspire generosity.
You should try to write a meaningful story on your GoFundMe page and explain why you’re walking.
Share any personal connections you have to cancer – whether you’re a survivor, a supporter, or walking in honor of a loved one.
Use social media to your advantage
The next step is to share your fundraiser – far and wide.
Use social media to your advantage and spread the word about your fundraiser and why it is you’re taking part.
Your network can become your strongest fundraising ally. Sharing your journey on social platforms to inspire friends and family is invaluable.
You could also encourage your social circle to share it on their social media.
Creating regular updates where you can share milestones, training updates, and fundraising progress.
You should also try to use stories and live videos e.g. a quick Instagram Story or Facebook Live can highlight the excitement and the emotional journey of training.
Crucially, you must remember to always share a link to your GoFundMe fundraising page in each post you do.
Host mini events
As well as sharing on your social media, you should also think about how you can engage your community near to you.
You could consider hosting mini events that bring your community together. Perhaps you could do this with other people who are also taking part.
This can help generate additional support for your fundraiser. Some ideas you could do include:
- Virtual challenges: set up a step challenge and ask participants to donate for every mile they commit to.
- Bake sales or charity events: organise community-friendly events with entry fees directed to your fundraiser.
- Game nights: host a virtual or in-person quiz night with a small donation entry fee.
Thank your donors
As you’re fundraising it is important to thank your donors as you go.
Gratitude builds loyalty and engagement and also keeps donors informed of your progress. It could mean a lot for a donor to see their support is helping you for the big event.
You can do this in lots of ways, but some ideas to consider are:
- Send personalised thank-you emails or messages.
- Update them about how much was raised and how their support is making an impact.
Reach out to local businesses
Don’t be afraid to reach out to local businesses for support. You’d be surprised how engaged your local community can be, especially when it comes to supporting charities.
They can contribute in several ways:
- Sponsorships: ask local businesses to sponsor you.
- In-kind donations: host charity raffles featuring local business prizes.
- Employee fundraising partnerships: suggest team-building opportunities for businesses to rally behind a cause.
Fundraising made easy with GoFundMe – what’s next?
If you’re ready to start your Shine Night Walk 2025 fundraiser, read our step-by-step guide to get going.
Step 1 – create your GoFundMe page
Start with our simple signup process and create your own GoFundMe page.
It’s quick, easy and clear. You will be asked for basic details to begin and then you will need to write your engaging story.
Step 2 – Share your Shine story
Add your personal journey into the story and your personal motivation why you are fundraising.
Emphasise this in any shares or social media posts. Explain to people exactly why you’re fundraising and encourage them to share too.
Step 3 – Set your fundraising goal
Set your realistic fundraising goal.
It’s quick, easy and you can alter it at any time.
If you’ve reached your goal quicker than you thought, you can also make it larger at any point.
Step 4 – spread the word
Next, get sharing.
Emphasise the impact your fundraiser could make and really explain why it is you’re taking part.