Running in honour of her dad who passed away from lung cancer in 2010, Hannah has helped to raise over £3500 during her fundraising campaign for the London Marathon.
Hosting an afternoon tea and gathering support from friends and family on Facebook, she’s ready to tackle the 2023 London Marathon after witnessing the incredible atmosphere at the 2022 event.
An avid runner and reader, Hannah also enjoys painting and going to the gym. Based in Tooting, London, she’s close to her family, especially her mum Mary and her brother Matt.
My Dad sadly passed away from lung cancer back in 2010, less than a year after his diagnosis. This is what inspired me to run for the Roy Castle Lung Foundation – I understand the effects lung cancer can have and I wanted to raise some money for lung cancer research
Hannah’s Fundraising Journey
“It was Mum who came up with the idea for the afternoon tea – a friend of hers had done something similar to raise money and we both thought it sounded like a nice idea.
Luckily I have an incredible family who were more than willing to help bake cakes, and I managed to borrow an awful lot of teapots from very generous people in the local area (we held it in Long Crendon, where Mum lives).
I had doubts about it for weeks leading up to it, thinking no one would come and we’d have so much leftover cake, but it went SO well! I never could’ve anticipated it. We were busy from 2-5pm and ran out of places for people to sit on occasion.
In the end, we managed to raise around £1,300. My family were amazing on the day, running around helping to take orders, clear plates, wash up, make tea etc, and I couldn’t have done it without them. It was such a lovely day and I’m so pleased I did it.”
I’ve run a few half marathons in recent years and after watching the 2022 London Marathon in person, the atmosphere just felt so incredible and I knew I wanted to do it. I wanted a new challenge and something to work towards – and the training has certainly been a challenge! Honestly, I’m absolutely terrified and convinced something will go wrong, but I am also really looking forward to it.
Hannah’s tips for hosting a fundraiser
“In terms of tips… I’d say for a fundraiser, get as much help as you can from family and friends – so much easier when you can delegate! And I’d really recommend posting on Facebook to ask for help – I managed to borrow almost all the teapots and cake stands from local people due to posting on Facebook, and two incredibly kind people offered to pay for the cream and the jam (for the scones) after seeing my Facebook posts. It really showed the power of social media!”
Hannah has now raised nearly £3700 through her fundraising and JustGiving page, which you can find here. You can also find Hannah on Instagram and Twitter.
