A TEAM of 35 runners from Bedales raised £8,000 for two education charities after competing in this year’s Great South Run.
Pupils, staff, parents and alumni joined forces to run in the event.
The junior and adult 5km events, normally held the day before the 10-mile event, were cancelled this year due to high winds from Storm Brian.
However, three intrepid seven-year-old children at Bedales Pre-prep School, Dunannie – Dare, Annabel and Madeleine – would not let the weather deter them.
Instead, they ran their own Great South Run mini event around the grounds of the school off Church Road in Steep.
Fortunately the weather improved for Sunday.
Donations are being shared between two charities, one international and one UK based. Cecily’s Fund was set up in memory of 19-year-old former pupil Cecily Eastwood who died in a car crash. The charity supports orphans and vulnerable children affected by HIV and AIDS in Zambia.
Alison and Basil Eastwood, co-founders of Cecily’s Fund, said: “We are delighted that a team from Bedales competed in the Great South Run for Cecily’s Fund.
“Cecily loved her time at Bedales from 1991-96 – and Bedales loved her. She was working with Zambian children orphaned by AIDS when tragically she died in a car crash just at the end of her gap year.
“Her fund continues her work and since then has enabled over 20,000 destitute children to complete their school education, not least thanks to the support of the school she loved."