Thatcham Santa fun raises more than £1.5k for Newbury Soup Kitchen

Once a year, Christmas music fills a frosty morning in Broadway and over a hundred festive red hats bob through the town centre for the annual Santa fun run.

Around 180 people, whether they were a strolling Santa, sprinting Santa or sit on dad’s shoulders Santa, made their way through the 5km route on Sunday, December 4.

The Thatcham Rotary-organised event raised £1,625 for Newbury Soup Kitchen this year, with the charity collecting £364 on the day.

Chairman of Thatcham Rotary Tim Dyson said: “The first runner took 19 minutes which is unbelievably fast.

“There were quite a lot of spectators on the roads, the atmosphere was lovely.

“Newbury Soup Kitchen were here, giving out coffees, soups and flapjacks.

“The flapjacks are fantastic.”

Newbury Soup Kitchen has recently found a 30 per cent increase in demand with a 50 per cent decrease in donations.

CEO Meryl Praill, who founded the charity in 2017 and also made the flapjacks, said: “I pre-empted this and I have hoarded food, so we have got plenty of food supplies to carry on with our food provision.

“More people need support from us but donations are dropping off because people are tightening their spending and the first thing to go is charitable spending.

“We are coming up to the festive period and people do a lot more for charity then but we need to remind people that charities are there all year round.

“Anybody is welcome to come for food and support with us, whoever they are. They don’t need to be homeless, if anyone needs a helping hand, a listening ear or a hot meal – we will take anybody.

“We have to wrap our warm around them, give them a bit of love – it is all about love.

“And today has been lovely, we have been giving out tea, coffee and flapjacks which have gone down well. “

The tea and coffee weren’t the only things participants were looking forward to though.

The thought of a hot chocolate is what kept Thatcham resident James Ladds going after he completed the run with his family.

He said: “This is the fifth time we have done this. It was my wife’s idea, she was very keen to do something and this was a good idea for us.”

His nine-year-old son Alfie, who took on the challenge with parents, aunties, uncles, cousins and grandparents, said: “We’ve done it a few times before, and my dad carried me all the way on his back.

“It was fun and I would do it again.”

Santas with waggly tails also took part, including nine-year-old dog Harley and his owner Sarah.

The Thatcham resident and dog walker said: “This Santa fun run was actually on my list of things to do this year and it was good fun.

“I was glad I wasn’t the last walker to come in.

“Everybody was encouraging everybody and it was a really nice environment.”

Mayor of Thatcham Jeff Brooks was at the finish line with mayoress Mandy Cole handing out medals for all runners.

He said: “The weather has been kind again and it has got the Christmas spirit going.

“This is firmly in the calendar now and the Thatcham Rotary do a great job of organising it.

“Isn’t it great to see?”