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Hi Sunshine News Readers,
Summer is finally here and we hope you are well and enjoying the glorious weather! Regular readers may know that last week saw our 21st anniversary Sunshine Run take place on Newcastle Quayside, and this week’s column will talk all about it. We have lots of people to thank, so without further ado, let’s get into it!
The run up to the big day was busy to say the least, and every 5 minutes was spent checking the weather forecast. We were worried that our record of sunshine for the aptly named run would be broken this year as the weather was being incredibly temperamental. However, it seems that the Sunshine Run spell worked again as our runners well and truly brought the sunshine to the Quayside, and it hasn’t stopped since!
While the weather was on our side, we faced various obstacles around the event, but Team Sunshine worked together to battle these hurdles, and we think the evening was a success. This event was all about raising much-needed funds so we can continue to support children living with disabilities, additional needs and terminal illness in the North East region, and we certainly did just that.
With that in mind, we’re delighted to announce that this year’s Sunshine Run raised a whopping £17,670 – and we’re still getting donations in! This is such a phenomenal achievement, and it has made the hard work so worth it. Knowing the impact it will have on babies, children and young people in our community is priceless.
And we couldn’t do this alone. We have so many people to thank for making this event a success, and for raising such an incredible amount. Firstly, we’d like to thank our wonderful sponsors at Stagecoach, who have collaborated on this event for the fourth year running. The team at the Slatyford depot are continuously supporting our charity throughout the year, and The Sunshine Run is just one many. We’ve already been planning beyond Sunshine Run and discussions have been had about the return of our much-loved Santa Bus… we really can’t wait!
We’d also like to thank our volunteers who donated their time and skills to support this event. Our events wouldn’t be possible without the support from our volunteers, and we’re so grateful for all that they do. We were joined by a team from Accenture during the day who helped us set up, and on the night we had support from several individuals as well as organisations including Irwin Mitchell (who also very kindly helped us with printing ahead of the event!), Northumbria Police Cadets and XL Medical who were on hand in case of any emergencies.
We would also like to thank the organisations who supported us behind the scenes; Timing Up North for helping with the organisation of runners, race numbers and results, and for providing our start/finish gantry. North Star AV for providing a stage, speakers and microphones, East Quayside Management for providing space for our sponsors whose Stagecoach bus acted as a bag drop area, and to Hatton Traffic Management for providing cones. A thank you also to Banner Roll UK for supplying our t-shirts, and to Medal Studio for our medals.
We’d like to send a huge thank you to Asha from At One and Danceversity, who hosted the event for the second year. Asha’s energy and enthusiasm is unmatched and it was great to see her again after our Sunflower Ball. We were also joined by charity patron and Paralympian, Stephen Miller MBE, who started the race for us again – it was great to catch up and hear about his retirement plans!
We also had the pleasure of being joined by one of our long-term supporters, who for the first time led our warm-up! Vicki Bradley and her team from Keepfitmammy have been running the GNR for us for years and always impress us with their fantastic costumes. They came in full sunflower attire with tutus, accessories and even a full plant-pot get up! A huge thank you to them for building momentum, warming our runners up and creating a fun and engaging atmosphere.
The Sunshine Run is more than just a 5K… it’s about bringing people together to support our cause and drawing crowds to one of Newcastle’s most popular and most iconic landmarks. We couldn’t do this without the help of our fantastic line-up of entertainment, and this year we were joined by supporters old and new!
We were joined once again by the brilliant team from 99th Garrison, whose Star Wars cosplay is always a hit! Who doesn’t want to grab a selfie with a Stormtrooper? We were also excited to hear the familiar sounds of North Tyneside Steelband as they joined us for another year. You just can’t beat(!) the sound of their drums as you approach that finish line and it was a pleasure to welcome them back.
This year saw some new entertainment as well; crowds surrounded the sounds of North East Gospel Choir as they performed a medley of summery hits. We worked with the choir for the first time at Christmas and couldn’t miss the opportunity to hear them again! We were also joined by the lovely Kerry from The Sparkle Scene in Durham; she came armed with glitter to make our runners dazzle in the sun, and she very kindly donated her profits directly to the charity. It was a real pleasure meeting Kerry and her daughter, Paige (who ran the 5K!) and we hope this won’t be the last time we see them!
So many people are involved in The Sunshine Run, and the event wouldn’t be what it is without them, so THANK YOU to everybody involved. And, of course, we’d like to send a huge thank you to everybody who took part, the individuals including some of our families, and teams from local businesses. A special thank you goes out to those who chose to fundraise for us.
We don’t ask for additional fundraising at The Sunshine Run, as we make money from entries. However, it is always welcomed and encouraged, and this year we were blown away at the generosity of all who donated. Many of our corporate teams set up JustGiving pages, as did some of our families and community groups who took part, to give something back to help other children. There’s still time to donate to this event and you can do so by visiting www.justgiving.com/campaign/sunshinerun2024.
Our final thank you goes out to Craig Connor from The Chronicle, who captured the night perfectly. All our photos can be viewed on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/share/KKKEQDh7dvXNEk1d/.
Our 21st anniversary raised such a fantastic amount, and we have simply been inspired to make next year’s run bigger and better and discussions have already started... Roll on The Sunshine Run 2025!
Thanks for reading.
Sophie X
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