In around six weeks time, a group of Syd Barrett fans and associates of Escape Artists will be walking from London to Cambridge to raise money for the Syd Barrett Fund - a distance of some 60 miles. When Syd left London and returned home to Cambridge at the beginning of the eighties he decided to walk the whole way, and over the Easter weekend the Syd Barrett Memorial Walk will take place.

The challenge will begin at the Roundhouse in Camden, a venue Syd played with Pink Floyd in the mid 60s, and his sister Rosemary, founder of the Fund, has good memories of seeing him perform there. She also explains the background to one of the key places in Cambridge the walkers are heading for.

"While in London during the 60s it was very exciting because Syd was there too and that's when it all took off. I remember going to see him at The Roundhouse and having a great time."

The group will head out of the capital via Finsbury Park and the Lea Valley, before travelling through the Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire countryside, ending up in Syd's home city on the Sunday.

They will take in Byron's Pool [click thumbnail, right] on the outskirts of Cambridge, a favourite place of Syd's both as a child and then in his later life.

Rosemary: "With our father as kids we used to go to Byron's pool in Granchester, It's a big pool and a wood and he used to like going there. Any quiet, countryside areas around Cambridge he would enjoy."

The walk is to raise money for the Syd Barrett Fund, which supports the work of the Socially inclusive arts charity Escape Artists, who help disadvantaged people to access the arts as a means for improving wellbeing, confidence, skills and employability.

"Because I recognise how important music and painting were to Syd, I want to help other people, who can benefit in the same way from the arts as he did, by providing opportunities for active involvement in the creative process," Rosemary said.

One such project was during the City Wakes in 2008, where a group of people, many of whom had experienced issues with their own mental health, performed Syd Barrett written songs at a sold out concert in the Trinity College Chapel Cambridge. Read our report of the first City Wakes Syd Barrett Festival here.

If you would like to support the team of walkers then please visit www.justgiving.com/sydbarrettwalk. Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it's the most efficient way to donate - they raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

To keep up with the activity of the Syd Barrett Fund, read their blog, or follow them on Twitter at www.twitter.com/sydbarrettfund.