Category: Charity

  • Virtual Time Trial Relay

    Virtual Time Trial Relay

    Running a virtual relay

    Many of us foxes have managed our lockdown running virtual races which have really helped keep our motivation up.  When we heard about the Seaford Striders Time Trial Relay it sounded like a great opportunity to run a virtual race but do it together as a team!

    They were also raising money for a fantastic charity – The WOLO Foundation – who give help and practical support to families affected by cancer living in Sussex. https://www.facebook.com/thewolofoundation/

    The Time Trial relay required 30 foxes to run at half an hour intervals from 6am on Saturday 25th July until 9pm that evening.  Every 30 minutes a fox set off on their run and had to cover as many miles as possible in that time.  All our miles were then recorded and totted up to give us a total number of miles for our day of running.

    Race day

    It was a glorious morning to start the relay and our first section of runners had a hot and sticky run.  As the day progressed the weather got worse! We saw all four seasons in one day with our poor runners in the middle of the day facing wind, rain, and hail. As well as our 30-minute time trial, many of us foxes completed other runs including our normal Saturday foxy sessions and duathlons too.  Our team managed to run a total of 89 miles across the day!

    Team spirit

    What got us through the day was the thought of covering 16 hours of running between us knowing that every 30 minutes we were virtually handing over the baton to the next team member.  Along the way, we shared our distances, maps and selfies with each other – some in the heat, some in the horrendous wind and pouring rain.  In true foxy style, we created a collage of team photos and a special video of all our runs which we shared with the rest of the foxy family. 

    In spite of all our cancelled races over the last 6 months, we have still managed to run together and share our successes. Thank you, Seaford Striders, for a fantastic team event!

    For more information and for future events please click on the following link. https://www.facebook.com/SeafordStriders/

    By Emma Hill

  • VE DAY 2020

    VE DAY 2020

    A touching tribute to those who fought for our freedom.

    Friday the 8th of May 2020 marked 75 years since victory in Europe. On this day 75 years ago everyone in towns and cities across the country came out to celebrate the victory with our Armed Forces and remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice.

    75 years later and the ability to celebrate together is very different due to Covid 19 but the desire to mark the momentous occasion is still very strong.

    Foxy Ladies members signed up for the Care for Veterans 5k & 10k virtual run. Outside the home of the Veterans at the Queen Alexandra hospital, Worthing, our members paid tribute with their attendance for the two minute silence. Other ladies choose to be there when the Spitfire flew three flyovers (on its journey around England) paying tribute to those that made the ultimate sacrifice. The virtual events raised an amazing £1800.

    Pheobe, Fundraising Officer at Care for Veterans said to all participants

    “Thank you so much for taking part in “Victory for Veterans VE Day Virtual Race” on Friday the 8th of May. Together you have walked, ran, cycled or swam over 1000km and have raised an incredible £1800! This will make such a difference to the residents here at Care for Veterans, Worthing.”

    We were humbled to be part of this amazing day and pleased we could do something to mark such an occasion and support a very worthy local cause. Our thanks to Pheobe for organising the virtual event in these very challenging times. For more information and if you wish to donate please see https://www.careforveterans.org.uk/

    By Sinead Clayton

  • 2.6 Challenge exceeds expectations!

    2.6 Challenge exceeds expectations!

    The idea of the UK wide 2.6 challenge was to raise money for the charities who would usually receive money through the Running of the London Marathon. As you maybe aware all running races have been cancelled whilst the Corona Virus pandemic continues. However the charities that would normally benefit also have to continue their good work which is difficult without the funding they usually receive at this time of year.


    Our amazing group of ladies pledged to cover 260 miles on Sunday 26th April as part of this challenge and we absolutely smashed that target and ending up running 734 miles between 115 foxes and 8 fox cubs all on solo runs (sticking to the social distancing guidelines).
    It was a truly incredible day and we ran 474 more miles than the target we had set.
    We have raised a fantastic £7,141 with gift aid (as of 5/5/2020) which completely exceeded our expectations. Each charity will receive over £1,000.

    All five of the local charities were chosen and voted for by the members of the club


    THANK YOU to all the amazing ladies that took part and to everyone for your donations and words of support and a massive Thank you to Emma Hill, Foxy Lady member and event organiser.
    The Foxy Team spirit was felt everywhere on that Sunday and we are so proud of all our efforts and fund raising achievements.

    Amazing amount of 2.6 challenge runners
    All our runners maps
  • A dab hand with the old brush!

    A dab hand with the old brush!

    A team of Foxy Lady volunteers gave up their valuable time and helped to transform the hallway landing and lift area of the Creative Heart Community Hub in December 2019.

    The inspirational ladies behind the community hub, Claire and Fliss, have been working tirelessly renovating what was the old Tamarisk Centre building in Littlehampton. They took on the building in a state of disrepair, it had been left empty for many years , It had been vandalised on several occasions which meant holes in the roof and the build up of damp and mould was off the scale. This didn’t deter the ladies, they set about renovating and decorating with the help of the community. Different organisations donated  time or items to help get the project going.

    Fliss and Claire had a vision “Creative Heart will be a love filled, not for profit, vibrant community hub and arts café. We aim to be a safe and genuinely inclusive space that tackles loneliness, inspires creativity and improves emotional, physical and mental wellbeing”.

    The hub will be funded through sales in their homemade food café and by renting rooms and spaces to businesses and organisations. Their progress has been incredible not only through their own creativity with resources and items donated but from the generosity of others.  Fliss told us they have only had to buy a pot of paint and a few brushes to date. It is heart warming to see and hear about how the community has pulled together on this project. 

    They hope to open in April and have facilities available ready to go like a library, childrens play area and IT suite.  Hot desking, community group rooms, creative arts room, and of course the wonderful café will also be available. The other areas they are working on and aim to roll out soon will include a hoist for changing disabled people, chapel and a laundry room for rough sleepers to wash clothing and bedding. 

    The Foxy Ladies team got involved after hearing about the project and decided they would like to try and help the scheme along a bit further. We donned our best painting overalls and brought our own rollers and brushes and got stuck in with sanding down washing and painting the upstairs hallway.

    It was great to be able to make a difference and there was lots of chat and banter whilst we worked hard. We came away feeling pleased that we had helped albeit on a small scale but left with the promise to return and help further.

    We had a date booked to return in March 2020,  to help them clean the ground floor ready for opening but unfortunately this has had to be postponed due to the Corona Virus outbreak.

    We are committed to helping this project and will return when viable. For more information please see http://creativeheart.org.uk/ 

     

  • Charity Clothes Swap raises money for great causes!

    Charity Clothes Swap raises money for great causes!

    Leah Simms one of our new run leaders and club member for a few years, organised a charity clothes swap event for the members. The aim, to pass on and exchange preloved or new sports wear whilst raising money for good causes.

    Members were invited to donate 5 clean unwanted sports items of their own either on the night or in the preceding weeks. They then paid £5 entrance fee and were allowed to take home 5 items , any additional items required were charged at 50p an item.  Ladies were asked to vote where the money went, the charities that benefitted are ones close to our members hearts.

    The ladies were absolutely delighted with their purchases many leaving with bag full’s and others with one of two carefully selected items. Donations included brand new sports bras, Nike trainers, Sweaty Betty leggings, Nike and Adidas shorts and running tights.  Plus there were gym tops vest t-shirts running jackets, high vis attire, swimming accessories, hats, new morphs and gloves.

    The evening was such a success, we raised £170 in one hour and this has  been divided between the two charities voted for are Chestnut Tree House and St Barnabas. The money has been donated via sponsorship to ladies that are running marathons and trekking in their names.

    Left over items will be used for another similar event later in the year.

    Thank you To Sue Hart for the loan of the venue.

    Leah with her clothes swap bargains
    Leah with her clothes swap bargains