VIDEO - Fundraising, sweat and trainers: marathon team bag £22k for Headway

Tuesday 09 May 2017

A team of spritely co-workers saw their months of gruelling training finally pay off a fortnight ago, as they crossed the finish line of the London Marathon – but making it to the end of the 26-mile track wasn’t their only victory: they’d pocketed over £22,000 for Headway Jersey along the way.

Now having swapped running shorts back to suits, the eight-person team from First Names Group visited Headway Jersey HQ yesterday to see how their efforts had paid off to help aid the recovery of islanders with head injuries.

They were introduced to Headway’s clients and promptly quizzed over their race preparation prowess -  from what they ate for breakfast (porridge and bananas) to the hottest costumes they had spotted on track (rhinos and a man running in heels, it turned out).

Pictured: Headway Jersey clients' artwork on display.

The tour took them round the community lounge where clients, carers and families can socialise and share experiences with other patients, and the all-important creative facility, where art and craft are used as therapy, as Headway Occupational Therapist of four years Chrissy Stevens explained:

“It isn’t what you just see on the table here – the pictures, the paintings, the needlecrafts – it’s what goes on in the brain to help people to be able to carry out these tasks. It’s all about hand-eye coordination, about perception, about paying attention, about memory, all these things that you don’t actually see, but the brain is really working hard to help people to regain their skills.

“It helps people regain their confidence and skills that they’ve previously lost, and it’s a sense of achievement in producing something that is very pleasing to look at. We entered some into the Eisteddfod in Jersey in March and all of [our entries] got silver, gold, platinum, which is phenomenal.”

Pictured: Handbags made from old jeans by Headway clients.

Also described as “phenomenal” was the amount raised by the team, composed of Andrew de la Haye, Vanessa Ferreira, Greig Higgens, Emma Godfrey, Katie Mitchell, Matt Haynes, Nigel Godfrey and Anna Tredant. “It’s great that all the money will stay here in Jersey to support our people with brain injuries. It allows us to run the centre, it pays for staff, it pays for facilities, it pays for the mini buses and it really will make a huge difference to people, their families, supporters and carers too,” Ms Stevens added.

Anna Tredant – a twelve-time marathon runner who led the team – said that she was “humbled” to see the effects of their fundraising on the charity, which celebrates its 20^th birthday this year.

Video: Anna Tredant, First Names Group Senior Manager, shares the experience of crossing the finishing line with Express.

“When it’s really tough when you’re doing the training in the horrible weather, and even when you get to mile 20…to see the difference that it makes is a humbling experience really. We’ve raised a phenomenal amount of money and it will make a difference.”