A Bollington charity is celebrating after raising almost £5000 of essential post-COVID operational funds.

Following on from last week's walk, fell runners also ran the Bollington Nostalgia Hill Race route to raise money for The Bridgend Centre. The amateur athletes raised a further £3000 for the Happy Valley good cause.

The public continued to dig deep into their pockets, to aid Bolly charity, and combining JustGiving and private offline donations, they have now raised just under £5000 in essential running costs.

Sixteen Bollington and Macclesfield businesses sponsored and gave prizes to the fundraising fell run for the Bollington community charity.

Every year on the second Sunday in July, the Bridgend Centre runs the seven-mile Bollington Nostalgia Hill Race to raise valuable funds for our charity.

In 2020, due to the social distancing measures in place, we decided to make the event a virtual challenge and following the success of this format, they decided to do the same again.

"We had fewer entrants this year than last, probably because runners are enjoying more 'real-life' events now as things open up," said Centre Manager of the Bridgend Centre Rebecca Lea.

"However, due to a number of people doing the event as a sponsored event, we have raised nearly £3000 for our Centre, which is absolutely phenomenal. This money will go towards our running costs following a difficult year when we have had to close our charity shop for long periods due to COVID restrictions.

"The race is usually a set route from the Bridgend Centre, up Hedgerow and over to Bakestonedale Moor, returning via Macclesfield Canal. However, this was a virtual challenge and we have only one stipulation, that competitors run 10k. So it was totally up to them whether they run our famous hill race route or another route of their choice.

"A huge thank you to the Bridgend Super Team, Sara Knowles and Jo Maitland for running the race as a sponsored event through JustGiving. Your contribution has been amazing.

"Thank you also goes to the Macclesfield Harriers for making our traditional Hill Race route one of your training runs. It was great to see the lovely photos of key waymarks along the route and we hope to do it in person next year.

All our wonderful entrants will be awarded the famous 'I ran the Bollington Nostalgia Virtual Race 2021' pink badge and category winners will be awarded a lovely medal hand carved by Anna Barker at the Centre. Again we have had entrants from a wide geographical area including Scotland, which is fabulous.

"And finally we would a massive thank you to the wonderful businesses who donated to our event."

The local businesses were as follows; Patagonia, Red Willow, Fruits of the Forage, The Indian Goat, Running Bear, The Village Florist, The Green, No 74 Deli, Pappas, Forest Gin, Co-op Bollington, The Flower House Bollington, Bollington Convenience Store, The Mulberry Leaf, and Knowles Green.

The final business to send gifts for the race entrants were Chadwicks, who like the charity, also have a premesis on Bollington's Palmerston Street.

The Bridgend Centre was founded in 1990 and has the registered charity number 1123287.

They offer friendship, company and someone to talk to in an accessible and disability friendly space. They hope to help Bollingtonians and other locals who are going through a time of crisis and who need some trustworthy, non-judgmental support to cope and thrive.

They particularly support those with mental health conditions, learning disabilities and the aged, who without our Centre may feel especially isolated or vulnerable.

You can donate here.

You can learn more about the charity located at 104 Palmerson Street via their website, where you can also book slots to donate to their charity shop.

Their telephone is 01625 576311, and their email is [email protected]. You can also follow them on Facebook.

Click here to read about last week's walk.

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