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A-Z Parkrun
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running for mental health
Business people in Leicester will be running an alphabetical list of parks around the world to raise money for mental
health charity Lamp WORDS BY KERRY SMITH
Three professionals are taking part in an ‘A-Z Parkrun’ fundraiser throughout 2023 in a bid to raise £10,000 for Lamp, a mental health charity. They’re welcoming runners of all abilities to join them or sponsor the challenge.
Photographer Pete Martin and solicitor Greg Hollingsworth are members of the Lamp Business Club, and former Lamp trustee Dave Green will be tackling the challenge of completing 26 park runs in 26 UK and international locations.
Richard Kotulecki, Lamp’s CEO, commented: “The A-Z Parkrun looks set to be a great challenge. It is especially heartening to see that our Lamp 5k annual fundraiser inspired Greg, Pete and Dave to come up with their own version of a community fundraiser to gather support for Lamp while helping to raise awareness of our mental health advocacy work.”
The fi rst parkrun took place on New Year’s Day in Braunstone, Leicestershire. Each park run then corresponds to letters of the alphabet ranging from Ashbourne (A) in Derbyshire to Zuiderpark (Z) in the Netherlands.
Greg said: “The three of us came up with the concept of the A-Z Parkrun event after supporting the annual Lamp 5k event. It is meant to be a fun way to raise much-needed funds for Lamp. We all run together anyway, so we’ll also use the runs as an opportunity to raise awareness of mental health and the importance of the advocacy services that Lamp provides, as well as highlighting the benefi ts of physical exercise on improving wellbeing. We have already been overwhelmed with the support of the local Leicestershire business community, with 20 businesses committing to sponsor 20 of our 26 locations.”
Runners of all abilities are welcome to join the events. For further information on how to run alongside the three runners, or to sponsor them on their challenge, visit www.justgiving. com/page/parkrunatozin23.
IT IS HEARTENING TO SEE THAT OUR LAMP 5K ANNUAL FUNDRAISER HAS INSPIRED GREG, PETE AND DAVE TO COME UP WITH THEIR OWN VERSION OF A COMMUNITY FUNDRAISER
TIME TO TALK
Friday, February 3 7pm-10.30pm Winstanley House
At Lamp’s ‘Time to Talk’ charity dinner, people can join open and insightful conversations to raise awareness of mental health, learn more about Lamp’s community mental health advocacy work, fundraise and hear from advocacy users and business supporters sharing their own mental health experiences and journeys.
You can fi nd sponsorship opportunities and book tickets at lampadvocacy. co.uk/ timetotalk
