TV presenter Mary Rhodes led around 900 people on a trek to raise cash for the battle against dementia.
The BBC journalist cut the ribbon to start the Alzheimer’s Society’s Dudley Memory Walk at the town’s zoo and castle on Saturday 14 September.
The event, over a course of up to 10k, is expected to have raised around £40,000 for the charity. More than 4,000 people in the Dudley area are living with dementia.
Mary Rhodes said: "My mother-in-law, Jan Jones, was diagnosed with Alzheimer's within weeks of the death of her husband Roger.
"It was a shattering time for the family and to watch the progress of Jan's dementia has been very distressing."
Mary’s husband, media consultant Duncan Jones, said: “Mum was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease four and a half years ago, though she’d been showing signs of the condition for at least a couple of years before that.
"To watch a very active life shrink to one largely lived within four walls has been heart breaking."
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