Jules, Anna, Clare and Simon's year of fundraising

Clare Thomas 1st January 2020

Story

It's difficult to believe that it's a year since Dad died last June. What's easier to believe is that the year of fundraising we all hoped to do for the brilliant Pilgrims Hospices had a coach-and-horses driven through it thanks to the extraordinary events of this year.

Our plan had been to run, walk and swim a whole range of challenges and one by one they have been cancelled or made virtually impossible.

We didn't want to wait for things to be rearranged. We know that the pandemic has been hard for charities that rely on public events and donations, and Pilgrims Hospices continues to need vital funds to continue providing the essential services to the dying and their families. The same support they gave all of us when Dad was helped to die at home with his family around him, just as he wanted.  

So, during July we all signed up to the Pilgrims Virtual Hike round the Isle of Wight. The four of us - Jules, Anna, Clare and Simon, all walked or ran  70 miles during the month of July - the equivalent of the coast of the Isle of Wight. Thank you for supporting us.

Clare's planned Brighton marathon was postponed from April to September and has now been cancelled. So she is running it on the planned date (20th September) but instead of in Brighton with thousands of runners it will be in Wye with just the one runner. It would be great if you feel able to support. 

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. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

Updates

Clare Thomas

12th January 2020
Update from Jules: I've uploaded the reports of the first two 5ks Charfield and Ely. Looking forward to hearing from other people about their favourite 5ks so I can run them! https://juleslearnstorun.blogspot.com/2020/01/number-2-of-50-ely.html

Clare Thomas

8th January 2020
Update from Simon: I did a timed 1500m pool swim on Tuesday in order to put down some kind of benchmark to train against. This was only my second swim after the Christmas break and the first time in over a year I've swum this distance continuously. So, I was expecting it to be painful...and it was - never mind, things can only get better. I'm aiming to get my average pace over this distance down to about 1'45" per 100 by the summer. Watch this space...