A TEAM of staff and parents from Stow-on-the-Wold Primary School will be running the London Marathon this weekend to raise money to help seriously ill children in the UK.

The group, which consists of teacher Nathan Cox, teaching assistant Jill Jeffries, parent Natalie Smith and husband of a staff member John Nicholson, will be running on Sunday for the Cheltenham based charity WellChild.

The team calls themselves ‘Stow Madness’ and have already raised more than £8,000 to help the charity care for seriously ill children at home rather than at hospital.

Nathan said: “There are hundreds of thousands of children in the UK living with long-standing illness or disability.

"By running the London Marathon this year in aid of WellChild, we hope to help the charity to improve the lives of as many children as possible.

"Cheltenham-based WellChild is the national charity working to ensure the growing numbers of these children and young people get the best possible chance to thrive – at home, together with their families. 

“All of us are keen runners, but after selecting WellChild this year’s school charity of the year, we decided to enter the marathon as a team”, said Nathan.

“With the school and the rest of the community behind us we have set ourselves an ambitious target, but we are looking forward to the challenge and we’re determined to have some fun along the way. 

“The support we’ve had from a number of local partners, friends and family has been unbelievable. 

“The whole community has got behind us and what makes it even more special is that we will be making a real impact on the lives of children and young people across the UK”.

WellChild Schools Adventure Coordinator, Sephron Mansell was delighted that the Stow-on-the-Wold Primary School team had decided to support WellChild.

“It’s fantastic to see the staff and parents from Stow-on-the-Wold Primary School join forces to run the 2017 London marathon to help WellChild. 

“It has been even more heart-warming to see the wider community support it has generated. 

“From a Karaoke night, bucket collections, to a fantastic frog racing evening, they have worked so hard. 

“For many of the children, young people and families we support, just getting through each day is a huge challenge. 

“The children have an Everest to climb in trying to live the kind of life we all take for granted. On their behalf I thank everyone at Stow-on-the-Wold Primary School and in the wider community for their support”.

To show your support for the Cotswold runners go to their website at uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/stowmadness and for more information about the work that WellChild does visit wellchild.org.uk