By William Coleman
Christmas is the season of giving. It is very easy to get caught up in the Christmas rush buying gifts and making sure you are all prepped and ready for that one day of the year where everything needs to be perfect. In the true meaning of giving, Salop leisure raised £2,000 for Severn Hospice with the Santa Dash.
The money raising event had a fantastic turnout with over 300 people, or all different age, shapes and sizes, taking part in the Santa dash. There were even 2 year old children running in the dash, all dressed up as Saint Nicholas. Each participant paying their entry fee to take part in the first ever Salop Santa Dash.
The huge crowd of Santas descended upon the 2.5 kilometer course as Salop Leisure’s Emstrey headquarters in Shrewsbury. The course was set around the neighbouring Love2Stay glamping and touring resort, which we covered earlier on this year click here.
The event was supported by Rybrook MINI Shrewsbury and Love Fitness, the Salop Santa Dash was just one of the events and activities organised this year by Salop to celebrate Christmas 2017.
The mastermind behind this new campaign of events is Ed Glover who os Salop Leisure’s marketing manager. Ed was over the moon with this year Santa Dash and is already planning an even bigger dash for the 2018 festive season.
“We had around 300 people take part this year and I think, through word of mouth, we could double that next year,” he said. “People came from as far away at London to take part and the runners looked very impressive as they lined up at the start in their Santa suits.
“As a company, we love to give back to the local community, run events for families, get local businesses working together and support as many charities as possible.
“We are delighted that so many people of a such a wide age range took part and would like to thank them all for their support. We are still counting the money raised but we hope the final amount will be more than £2,000 for Severn Hospice, which is a charity close to the hearts of many of our staff and customers.”
The Severn hospice need to raise a huge amount of money each year to keep their services going, around £24,000 a day. The charity reaches more than 2000 people across SHropshire and Mid Wales annually.
“We are delighted that so many people turned out to support the first Salop Santa Dash for Severn Hospice,” said Lucy Ruff, Severn Hospice’s fundraising manager.
“The money will go towards helping us to look after patients in the wards and in their homes. A total of 85p from every pound raised goes towards care and the remaining 15p helps to raise the next £1 for the hospice.”
There are a lot of Christmas activities and fun to be had at Salop Leisure this Christmas. If you are light on your feet with good balance have a spin on their 16×9 meter ice skating rink and then some afternoon tea with Santa at the Love2Stay Grotto.
Well done for the effort guys. Such an amazing thing to do for a very worthwhile cause, we look forwards to the 2018 Salop Santa Dash.
