CHARITY
Polar Bear on the Streets of London! Mrs Gill Punt broke the Guinness World Record at the London Marathon for the fastest marathon in a full-body animal costume. She ran dressed as a polar bear, one of the mascots for Cancer Research UK. The previous Guinness World Record stood at 4:30 hours and Gill beat this by nine minutes to set a new record of 4:21 hours raising thousands of pounds for Cancer Research in the process.
Gill said that despite being knocked over four times the day was about having fun, although she didn’t know what was worse: the heat or the limited visibility. Having the added challenge of running as a polar bear and attempting a Guinness World Record gave a massive boost to the fundraising endeavours. Gill first began to raise funds for cancer charities 17 years ago when her father died, but her efforts were revived when the Chigwell School community was touched by this dreadful disease and, sadly, families continue to contend with cancer.
Team Chigwell fundraising Chigwell parents, staff and Old Chigwellians came together to run in the Vitality London 10,000 and the team raised an amazing £8,000 for Cancer Research in May. Over 100 have signed up for the team’s next outing at the Royal Parks Half Marathon where last year they raised an amazing £93,000. n
Successful Pantomime – Oh yes it was! Chigwell staff take to the stage to raise money for charity The tenth biannual staff pantomime took place, directed by sixth form Drama Scholars, Will Weightman and Barney Walsh. This year’s performance was Peter Pan and a cast of sixteen staff including teachers and support staff, provided songs,
dance and much slapstick comedy to two full houses who were entertained with a really good, fun panto. The performances raised £2,500 which was split between Save the Children and the Timothy Pruss Memorial School in India, which is supported by Chigwell. A good time was had by all, not least Barney and Will who commented that the panto was an undeniable success, not only due to the laughs, but also due to
both nights being sold out. They wished to thank the participating staff and all those who came to
support these two special evenings for two good causes. n