Charity Fundraising...

When I first nervously mentioned the JOGLE relay back in the summer of 2010 thinking that the proposal would soon be swept under the carpet, one of the first eager respondents was Louise Neville who was very excited at the prospect of spending a week with some very sweaty Stragglers getting to see a bit of her adopted country and donning her pink running gear around the land. Having recently completed the 2 day Welsh Castles Relay, her appetite was whetted for another more challenging event in the JOGLE relay.  Far from advocating Alan Sillitoe's 'Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner' Louise is far happier in the company of others pounding the streets and cross country trails of South West London (or Yorkshire) and her cheery manner at any of the running events that the Stragglers participate in is one of the primary reasons I'd give for running in a club over just going for a jog on your own.

So where am I going with this?  Well, Louise was also the first of my 'committed' runners to drop out the revolving door of committing, but then deciding that actually what were they thinking of?  Louise's reason however was somewhat different as she advised that since committing she'd been diagnosed with cancer and was about to undergo chemotherapy treatment.  Running and the future therefore had to be put on hold and the JOGLE relay would in all likelihood have to go on without her.  Hopefully this isn't the case and Louise will be able to participate in some capacity come the summer.  Indeed at very least Louise is still very much part of our plans as team 'fairy godmother' as you'll see in the 'meet the team' section.  In terms of charity fundraising, Louise asked that we raise funds for Macmillan Cancer Support and so the team agreed that 70% of all funds raised by the team will go towards Macmillan.

Other than Macmillan, we are also raising funds for YMCA London South West and The National Centre for Young People with Epilepsy (NCYPE).  YMCA London South West are a large and diverse community based organisation, working in South West London and Surrey, with a particular focus on young people.   YMCA London South West, from their base at the Hawker Centre in Kingston, has very kindly hosted the Stragglers running club since 1997 providing showers, changing rooms and somewhere for refreshments post training runs and races (or instead of in many cases!).  By way of appreciation, the Stragglers would like to give something back and hope that funds raised from the JOGLE relay will go some way to showing the YMCA the level of support afforded by them towards the Stragglers over the last 14 years.


The National Centre for Young People with Epilepsy (NCYPE) is a national charity providing specialist services and support for children and young people with epilepsy and other neurological conditions. These include Aspergers, autism and a wide range of learning difficulties from moderate to profound and multiple.

The NCYPE offers residential and day services at St Piers School for children aged between 5 and 19, and at the NCYPE Further Education College for students aged between 16 and 25 to continue their learning. Our residential houses offer 24 hour home-from-home residential care and we also run a SureStart Children's Centre for all local families.

In addition, the NCYPE offers consultant-led diagnosis, assessment and rehabilitation services in collaboration with Great Ormond Street Hospital, as well as a Childhood Epilepsy Information Service which provides training and support for professionals, parents and young people themselves.

http://www.ncype.org.uk/

Please donate via the Virgin Giving banner at the top of this page.  This will direct you to the team's online fundraising page. Your support is much appreciated however much you are able to donate.

The Stragglers JOGLE relay team.