Never one to set myself an easy task, I have signed up to do the Run Reigate half marathon on the 19th September 2021 to support St Catherine’s Hospice with my partner in crime Lia!

As many of you know, our beautiful friend Rachael recently lost her battle with cancer and this has left such a huge hole in many hearts, including Tim, her husband’s and her lovely boys, Archie and Josh and those of her family and friends.

Rachael and I met through our children and despite our friendship being only a few years, there has been a lot of laughter, tears and prosecco and it is one that I will cherish forever!

I feel honoured that she was part of our lives, her smile, laugh and fantastic personality will always be with me.

Lia was not only a friend of Rachael’s but being a nurse at East Surrey Hospital, she was also there to support Rach through some of her procedures and I know how grateful Rachael was to see a friendly face, especially when covid restrictions meant she had to go to appointments alone on many of occasions.

Rachael was able to spend the last weeks of her young life at St Catherine’s hospice and I know the care and support they gave to her and her family was amazing. Tim and Rachael’s sister, Helen were able to stay at the hospice with Rachael to comfort and support her.

Despite the covid restrictions they have continued to run the hospice and support many people at such a difficult time of life.

I am so grateful that I was able to visit Rach and the staff made me feel at ease from the moment I stepped through the door. I know my visit was brief, however every member of staff I passed said hello or smiled and I knew it was a lovely place for Rachael to be.

I told Rach that we had signed up whilst I was with her and she said we were bonkers! 😂 as always, she got that right!!!

Rachael has always been and will continue to be a motivator for me, whenever I was out running I would get a text ping through and knew it would be Rach even though she didn’t actually know I was out pounding the streets of Horley and it would push me to keep going. Whenever I feel like taking a short cut home, I think ‘what would Rach do? She would keep going’! And on I go! So that is what is going to get us through the run!

It will be the furthest we have ever run and will be physically, mentally and emotionally hard but we’ll do it for Rach!

I know many businesses and charities have not been able to fundraise as much as normal and I recently saw a post that St Catherine’s may have to reduce the number of beds they have available which would have such an impact on families who require their help.

Many people I know have had personal experiences with friends or family members being supported by St Catherine’s and all think the hospice is amazing.

We have promised to raise at least £500, so if you can spare any pennies to help us raise much needed funds for this wonderful hospice we would be so grateful! And of course if anyone fancies a day out, please come and give us a cheer! We’ll be in orange St Catherine’s vests with Rachael’s initials - RLW on the back!

Love Laura and Lia xx

We're excited to be one of the local charity partners for this year's Run Reigate event. By running and fundraising for Team StCH, the money that you raise will make a huge difference.