Run Barns Green and St Catherine’s Hospice celebrate a decade of fundraising
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This year’s Run Barns Green, which takes place on Sunday 28th September, will be the 10th anniversary of St Catherine’s Hospice being the official charity of the event. In 2016, St Catherine’s first linked up with Run Barns Green, and in that time, a huge amount of money has been raised over the years through donations and by individual runners running on behalf of this wonderful local charity. Run Barns Green is delighted to announce that next year, St Catherine’s Hospice will once again be the official charity of the event.
St Catherine’s provides individualised, specialist, end-of-life care and support to local people, their families, friends and carers living in Crawley, Horsham, and across West Sussex and East Surrey.
Commenting on the 10-year milestone, Terrianne Hunt from St Catherine’s Hospice said, “We have become firm friends with the Run Barns Green team and they have been fantastic supporters of us over the years. Of course, this period has not been easy with the cost of living increases and the ongoing struggle to raise at least £7 million annually in voluntary income to enable us to deliver our expert care to local people when it is needed most. We have about 70 runners in the various races each year, all running on behalf of St Catherine’s, so we benefit enormously from this ongoing relationship, and we are absolutely thrilled to be celebrating a decade of working with Run Barns Green”.
Horsham MP John Milne will once again act as the official starter for the races this year, and he was delighted to hear about the anniversary. “Huge congratulations to both St Catherine’s Hospice and Run Barns Green for creating so many wonderful and fun opportunities for people to raise money. Many of my constituents have benefited enormously from the wonderful care, help and support that St.Catherine’s has provided at the very toughest of times. It is so nice to see this community partnership celebrate 10 years of great work, which has been so important in helping to make up the shortfall of funding in this vital sector of care”.
Run Barns Green Race Director, Nigel Currie, said, “It is amazing that it is 10 years since we first teamed up with St Catherine’s. They are an outstanding charity, and over the years, I have had the chance to witness firsthand what amazing work they do. Within the village, several friends and colleagues and their families who have been closely involved with Run Barns Green have benefited enormously from the wonderful help and support St. Catherine’s offers. As such, we have a very strong affinity to the charity and those of us who have visited the hospice know what a wonderful place it is with some very special people providing an essential service”.
Run Barns Green is made up of 4 races - The Half Marathon, a 10k race, a 5K race and a junior race for 4-11 year olds. The 2025 races will be the 43rd anniversary of the half marathon race, which began back in 1982. This will be the 10th anniversary of the first running of the 10k race, which began in 2016.
Run Barns Green is organised entirely by volunteers and relies completely on the loyalty and commitment of the committee, who work tirelessly to maintain and improve the standards of the races each year. On race weekend, a small army of additional volunteers gets involved. These include sports clubs – tennis, cricket, rugby football, stoolball and hockey, the local scouts, cubs, brownies, youth club, church and playgroup. These groups and many others each take on an area of responsibility – running water stations, helping with catering, marshalling, car parking, security and de-tagging and looking after all the runners as they finish the races. The Barns Green Players provide the commentators for the event to keep everyone informed about what is going on. Each organisation receives a donation which helps them to pay bills, buy new equipment and generally support their club or society.
Last year, just over 2400 runners registered for the four races. The two longer races follow routes on closed roads through the lanes of Barns Green, Itchingfield, Christ’s Hospital and close to Southwater through some of the most scenic countryside in West Sussex. These races also go through the magnificent grounds of Christ’s Hospital School. There is plenty of free car parking and there is chip timing for each runner in both races, and they also receive a gold, silver or bronze medal depending on their finishing time. There are also pacers running who will help runners achieve their target finish time. Registrations for the race are open - sign up today!
St Catherine’s Hospice provides specialist end of life care and support to people living with a terminal or life-limiting condition and their families across West Sussex and East Surrey.
Every year, the hospice cares for around 2,500 people living with a terminal or life-limiting illness on its hospice wards, in their own homes or in care homes.
As well as expert medical and nursing care, St Catherine’s also provides emotional and practical support through its dedicated Wellbeing Team, which provides a range of services including counselling, welfare advice, bereavement support and spiritual care.
It costs around £12 million to run the hospice each year but less than a third of this comes from the NHS. The rest is raised through the support and generosity of the local community.
