Written by Ben, Manager at Castleford House

So, the Inflatable 5K Run started off as a spontaneous idea at Anna Mason’s house one Sunday afternoon – “to raise money why don’t we think of doing this run thing?” she suggested, probably not really meaning it. By the end of that day, three of us had registered to do the run and by the week’s end, another three had volunteered to join us and were registered to run.

And that is how Ben Miller, Kate Miller, Anna Mason, Alexis Edwards, Scott Edwards and Gill Gallagher started to raise money for a fantastic cause.

I have had an idea for a long time to get a Tovertafel for Castleford House. It’s been a dream of mine since these devices became almost mainstream in Holland. However, the cost of them is an issue, which is why after we raised money to have reindeer at Castleford House at Christmas, I decided that our next fundraising venture would be a massive one – we only need about £6000 for a Tovertafel, after all. There is only so much money you can raise from coffee mornings and events. Whilst we do raise a generous amount of money from these events, at the rate we were going it would probably be six years or more until we raise enough for this amazing device. That was how we got onto the subject of fundraising on that Sunday afternoon.

We’ve all trained in our own way for this event. From running around Lydney parks, purchasing rowing machines (and using them sometimes), participating in G-Fitness with Becky on Tuesday mornings, we have worked really hard to make sure that we were ready to give it our all. As well as raising money for the Tovertafel, we decided to split the proceeds so that some went to another noteworthy cause – the Alzheimer’s Society. 

This is a cause that’s close to the hearts of many who work at Castleford. After months of rain in 2018, we had good weather for our run. Credit cannot just go to the runners on the day, I owe a huge thank you to Beth, Seb and Kevin for bringing residents Michael and Maud to come and watch us run and to Fiona and Maureen who came to support us and take photos.

We ran (walked at times) as a team and worked extremely hard – this is indicative of the way that we work at Castleford House. The team was also a good mix of management, nurses and care assistants across day and night staff, emphasising the team spirit that we have.

I’m so proud of what we did and how we did it. Whilst we haven’t totalled up exactly how much we raised, a very rough estimate currently stands at just under £800 and that is more than I ever dreamed of raising. Truth be told, I would have been happy with £250 and I want to thank everybody who has donated from the bottom of my heart – your support has been incredible. There is still time for late donations! 

Following on from this, even as we prepare for the Summer Fete on Saturday 30th June, we are looking forward to another huge event in the form of climbing “The Three Peaks of Abergavenny” in one day – stay tuned for more information regarding this. 

Well done Gill, Alexis, Kate, Anna and Scott. I’m so proud of all of us, what we have achieved and who we have done this for.