‘I was over the moon with what I managed to achieve’ – Greenham Common Half Marathon and 10K Event

Greenham Common was filled with runners, volunteers and spectators on the weekend who all came together to take part in the first ever Greenham Common Half Marathon and 10K Event.

On Sunday morning, 500 runners – including myself and several friends – took to the muddy fields and paths of the historic common land to race against one another and raise vital money for an important local charity.

New Life Special Care Babies – a charitable organisation dedicated to providing neo-natal equipment to special care baby units across the UK – were the organisers of Sunday’s event which managed to raise £20,000.

This money will form a significant part of the £30,000 cost of a neonatal ventilator for the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading which New Life will be buying shortly.

New Life founder and chief executive Trevor Goodall said: “I was blown away by the support and interest for this event, especially as it was the first one.

“The camaraderie and excitement was palpable with all runners and volunteers.

“A special thank you to our volunteers, sponsors, event director Mark Hayes, and the team from Racing Line Running.

“The new ventilator we will buy shortly for Royal Berks is going to make such a difference.”

Rob Jewell was the winner of the half marathon with a blistering time of 1:24.39. It was only the second half marathon that the 20-year-old had ever completed.

He said: “It was amazing. I honestly wasn’t expecting it. It was a good thing to do and hopefully I will be around next year to do it again.”

George Rossiter was the winner of the 10km race with an impressive time of 38:28.

I took part in the 10km race and with it being my first-ever running event, I thought it was a great experience.

Running around the iconic local landscape of the common and being cheered on by plenty of Newbury people was a fantastic feeling.

I was also super proud of coming 47th with a time of 52:32. I was hoping to beat 55 minutes so I was over the moon with what I managed to achieve.

Another runner who was proud of their achievements was Emily Watson Stubbs, who completed the 10km race while pushing a buggy containing her one-year-old twins, Rufus and Sylvia.

She was cheered on by her partner Freddie and daughter Edith, and managed to get round with a time of 1:09.34, a mightily impressive effort considering she was pushing the buggy around the whole of the muddy course.

Emily had a personal connection with New Life, and so wanted to take part in the race to support its incredible work.

She said: “We took part in the race because we know how important the New Life charity work is with our own twins and now we know so many other twin and multiple families that have needed extra support in the early stages of their lives.”

Before the race day, I caught up with Trevor Goodall to find out more about his story and the fantastic work New Life does to help hospitals and premature babies up and down the country.

He set up the charity in 1995 after his twin sons Joshua and Samuel died within a week of being born prematurely at the Great Western Hospital in Swindon.

Trevor said: “They were born three months premature. It was very unexpected. We were expecting them in September or October and they suddenly appeared in June.

“We were totally unprepared and it was such a shock.

“Leaving that hospital empty-handed at the end of the week was the worst feeling that anyone could ever have.”

Despite the incredible pain and grief he felt because of the loss of his two sons, Trevor decided to set up a golf day to try to raise some money so he could buy some medical equipment for Great Western.

He said: “I always say that the charity chose me because I would never have dreamt of doing anything like this.

“It was totally out of the blue for me, but I learnt while I was at the hospital that my boys were quite fortunate to have the equipment that they did.

“My boys were too weak and little to survive, but I learnt that many hospitals didn’t have a lot of the equipment they needed so that’s what got me thinking that it would be nice to buy some equipment to help others.”

The first Joshua and Samuel Golf Day at The West Berkshire Golf Club had 120 people take part and £7,300 was raised. The day was an emotional one for Trevor and his family, but he decided to make the memorial fundraiser an annual event.

In 2001, the fundraiser was renamed the New Life Golf Day, but it wasn’t until 2012 that the charity really took off.

The organisation started to expand when people offered to run the London Marathon for New Life, and the number of fundraising ideas and challenges began to increase.

New Life now organises several events every year with almost all of the proceeds going towards purchasing vital neo-natal equipment for special care baby units in hospitals across the UK.

In 2021, the charity reached its £1 million fundraising target, and with the total now being at £1.6 million, Trevor has already got his eyes on the £2 million mark.

He said: “It’s gone absolutely mental. I never thought it would be like what I have done in raising £1.6 million.

“We’ve spent half a million at Swindon alone. It is absolutely incredible what we have done.

“I never set out to do this, but something inspired me that day to do it and since then it’s just got bigger and bigger and it is just lovely helping little premature lives. It is fantastic.”

In 2024 alone, the charity will be organising three golf days, two teams completing the three peaks challenge, three cycle rides, a weekend full of fundraising at David Lloyd Newbury in May and its annual gala ball at Newbury Racecourse in November.

Trevor also said to expect more events throughout the year as he “hates saying no” to anyone that comes to him with a fundraising idea or any hospital that requests some much-needed medical equipment.

To find out more about New Life and all the great work they do, visit www.newlifebabies.org.uk/

Trevor added: “I’m so passionate about it and I am so pleased with what we do.

“It’s such a lovely feeling when you buy a piece of equipment that you know babies will use and it will help them survive.”