Rob’s mate Adam and his fiancée, Emily, were not going to sulk and dwell on having to postpone their wedding for a year. Far from it, they turned a temporary negative into an instant and meaningful positive.
Adam has been in touch with us and told us more about their amazing challenge: “My fiancée Emily and I were due to get married on the 28th May, but sadly we had to postpone until next May due to the coronavirus pandemic. Whilst we are disappointed, we know that everyone has been impacted in some way by the virus and for many, more so than ourselves. Therefore, we have decided to turn the current situation into something positive and have created a relay route from Offley Place in Hitchin (our wedding venue) through most of the UK locations, from which our guests will be travelling from, and back to Offley Place. This equates to a 1,359km route!
Our plan is to run, walk and cycle the equivalent distance of our wedding relay route as quickly as possible between us (given we are still working full time), but with a target of completing the distance within 2 months, so by 28th July.
We are three weeks into our challenge and have covered nearly 500km between us!
The reason for doing the challenge is to raise money for two charities close to our hearts:
The first is St. Matthews Nursing Home in Northampton, who looked after my fiancée’s Grandad John during the late stages of dementia. John sadly passed away last month but was looked after very well by St Matthews who rely on donations to provide, for example: Easter and Christmas gifts to the residents, and for outside singers and entertainers to attend to cheer the residents up.
The second is The Rob George Foundation. I was a friend of Rob’s and we went to Loughborough University together before he sadly passed away due to leukaemia in December 2013.
The RGF annual golf day was also due to take place on 28th May this year, which I have enjoyed playing in in the past, but for obvious reasons I had to politely decline this year! Of course, that has also had to be postponed due to the virus, as well as many other fundraising events planned, therefore we are keen to support this amazing charity and raise some much-needed funds during this tough time.
We have set-up a PayPal pool to collect donations. Please feel free to nominate which cause you would like your donation to go to. If you do not specify, we will simply split your contribution between both causes.
https://paypal.me/pools/c/8prKYZIXoy
Rob’s dad and Chairman of the RGF, Philip George, commented: “We are so touched that Adam and Emily have decided to raise money for the RGF and St Mathews Nursing Home. The support we’ve received from Rob’s mates over the years has been phenomenal and something we never take for granted. Years ago, I used to play cricket against Adam’s dad, Roy, and not so many years ago Rob and Adam played together in the Essex Under 9s team, and then meeting up again at Loughborough.”
We all wish Adam & Emily every success with this challenge, please support them if you can!
