Loughborough students raise cash for Rainbows

Active students at Welbeck Defence Sixth Form College are hoping to raise £500 for us by taking part in a Swimathon and a Santa Run.

Upper and Lower 6th students from Welbeck Defence Sixth Form College are donning their swimwear and Santa suits in aid of Rainbows.

On Sunday 1 December, the students took a dip in their college pool as part of the Make a Splash event organised by GEM 106 to bring the East Midlands together in memory of Susan Taylor.  Susan was a much loved ambassador and fundraiser of ours. Sadly she lost her life in July while aiming to swim across the English Channel for Rainbows.

The students had aimed to swim the distance across the channel, 1,352 lengths, but smashed this goal by swimming 3,743.

On Sunday 8 December, the students will swap their swimwear for Santa suits to take part in the 5k Loughborough Santa Fun Run, which is organised by Rotary Club of Loughborough at Loughborough University.

The student charity committee at Welbeck selected us as one of their charities to support this year.  Welbeck students were taken aback by the fantastic work that is carried out at the hospice after they visited and had a tour. The students have also been and volunteered at with us and feel we are a very worthy cause to support.

Sophie Mitchell, head of the charities committee at Welbeck, said: “The work carried out by Rainbows is incredible and we want to do anything we can to help brighten the lives of life-limited children and their families. We hope that people will support us by sponsoring us or even signing up to the events themselves.”

Jennifer Leach, community fundraiser at Rainbows, added: “I would like to thank everyone at Welbeck for supporting Rainbows. They are doing a wonderful thing raising funds to help us run the hospice – fundraising efforts make such a huge difference to both the children at Rainbows and their families. I hope people feel inspired to support them.”

Entry for the Santa Run is £13 or £6.50 for under 16s and includes a Santa suit. To register or for more information visit www.santa-fun-run.co.uk