Santa Stork 2024 – spreading Christmas magic, warmth and comfort
As Christmas morning breaks and the sounds of excited children echo across the country, we
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On Sunday 18th September the sun was shining as once again Priory Park hosted Run Reigate 2022. Now in it’s ninth year, this popular running festival is a highlight of the Stripey Stork calendar and once again #TeamStork were out in force with runners, supporters and volunteers all coming together to raise vital funds.
Drumroll please, the amount raised to date is a fantastic…
We are so grateful to our incredible runners and supporters. The money raised at Run Reigate 2022 enables us to help many more local families at a time when our help is needed more than ever. Check back in the coming days and weeks the total continues to rise.
This year we had 53 runners making up Team Stork, taking part in the 5K, 10K, half marathon, the kids’ race and the Teens’ 5K. Whatever their distance, our runners were all united in their goal- making it across the finish line and raising as much money as they could for Stripey Stork. Conditions were perfect, the sun was shining, the sky was blue and only the supporters felt the early morning chill. A huge thank you to all our runners:
Half marathon – Chris, Jon and John
10k – Kevin, Sam, Jackie, Holly, Luke, Louis, Debbie, Claudia, Stu, Ben, Kirsty, Simon and Neil
5k – Becky, Tracy, Megan, Hannah, Xavier and Ed
Teens’ 5k– Mia, Alice, Leyla and Issy
Kids’ race – Grace, George, Phoebe, Max, Eddie, Bethany, Thomas, Evie, Anushka, Sophie, Lexi, Jamie, Ben, Max, Milo, Sophie, Joe, Prithvi, Orla, Saoirse, Henry, Oscar, Lucia and William
All our runners are incredibly important to us but this year there were two stories that really touched us.
Sam and Jackie have become legends at Run Reigate and ever year they delight us with their fantastic costumes. In the build up to this year’s event, the outfits from Sam and Jackie were once again a closely guarded secret. We all wondered how they could follow last year’s Stripey Stork superheroes. Well, they did it! Introducing the greatest cheerleaders Team Stork could ever have!
This hasn’t been the easiest year for Jackie as she’s just finished chemo and radiotherapy for breast cancer. However, she was adamant that she would be running the 10k for Stripey Stork. With Sam by her side, this was by far the hardest run either of them had ever done. Pushing through the tears and the painful moments, they both crossed the finished line and have raised over £1000 for Stripey Stork. We are so incredibly proud of them.
Your hardest times often lead to your greatest moments in life. Keep going, tough situations build the strongest people
Another of our superstars is Edward, a self-confessed non-runner. Edward has Asperger’s and volunteers with us weekly as part of the Surrey Choices employability scheme. Big crowds and attention are not his thing, and we don’t take for granted what a challenge this was for him. A huge congratulations to him for completing the 5K. Edward, you smashed it!
Dressed in bright orange t-shirts, our runners were easy to spot all around Reigate and once again we turned Priory Park orange.
A big shout out to some of our most dedicated supporters – Jon from Celtic Contractors and his lovely family. Jon undertook the half marathon, while Saorise and Orla took part in the kids’ races – Saorise flew round the course dressed as a Stork! With lots of cheers and smiles she did a fab job of being our young ambassador and Orla made sure Stripey got lots of cuddles.
It was fabulous to see the Jones family out in force at Run Reigate 2022 and supporting Stripey Stork once again. Chris is one of our referral partners and knows first-hand how much this support will help us with the work that we do in the local area. Congratulations to Neil and Holly for running the 10k and a huge well done to Chris on completing the half marathon.
Starting the day and finishing the day at the Stripey tent felt like coming home – so warm and welcoming!
It was lovely to see Mia, Alice, Leyla and Issy who have all just started volunteering with us as part of their Duke of Edinburgh Award.
Big thanks to our friends at Osborne for getting involved once again this year – John and Kirsty did a great job and their friends and colleagues at Osborne generously supported them.
We were grateful to Simon from Willis Towers Watson who took on the 10K once again.
We couldn’t have been prouder of these Year 2 children – all from one class at a local primary school – who chose to run and raise money for Stripey Stork. It was the first time many of them had taken part in Run Reigate and they did a brilliant job.
Our team of volunteers were out in force in the event village – you couldn’t miss us with our bright orange gazebo and orange t-shirts! We welcomed our runners back with hugs and smiles. There was much fun and laughter as our winner’s podium was out once again and lots of people enjoyed dressing up and striking a pose. It was amazing to catch up and celebrate with our runners and their families, as well as meet new people from the local community.
Our runners each received a goody bag as a well done and as a token of our appreciation.
Of course, none of this would be possible without our team of dedicated volunteers. Thank you for giving up your time for us, whether that was helping at the stall, taking payments at the car park or helping behind the scenes in preparation for the event. This truly is a team effort.
Thank you to Ann, Chris, Pat, Nicola Fiona, Rowena, Emma, Sam, Jenny, Sam B, Lois, Jo and Sophie.
Finally, we can’t forget a big shout out to Micaela who project managed Run Reigate 2022 for Stripey Stork and ensured it all went smoothly. She did a fantastic job!
Charlotte from Zapphire School of Dance, who hand made the gorgeous rosettes that each of the children received for running in the kids’ race.
Morr & Co hosted their fabulous R&R tent once again this year and collected donations for Stripey Stork. We were grateful that they invited some of our runners to relax at the R&R tent after their race.
Goody bags
Squires Garden Centre Reigate for donating an assortment of seeds for our goody bags. Puzzler for providing lovely puzzle books for our adult and child runners – a great excuse to relax after a hard race!
The Soapy Zebra for the gorgeous hand-made soaps – what a treat for our runners.
And of course a big thank you to Dave, Lisa, Jodie, Karen, Nicola and all the fabulous team at Run Reigate for once again organising such a fantastic event.
We’ll let you catch your breath of course, but if you’re interested in signing up for one of next year’s races you can do so here , or send an email to events@stripeystork.org.uk to express your interest in joining Team Stork – we’d love to have you on board.
As Christmas morning breaks and the sounds of excited children echo across the country, we
At this time of year, we like to stop and reflect before diving into the
Between 3rd and 10th December 2024, we participated in our first Big Give Christmas Challenge,
When it comes to supporting Stripey Stork, Ben Harris didn’t just go the extra mile
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Registered as a charity in England and Wales 1161613
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