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Huddersfield Colour Run success and the important message behind the powder paint and tutus
Hundreds of families gathered in Huddersfield’s Greenhead Park today for the annual Forget Me Not Hospice colour run.
The event, which consisted of an explosion of colour, powder paint, fairy tutu’s and fancy dress is put together to raise money for local families who are facing, or who have faced, the loss of a child.
Money raised from the event will go directly towards funding the charity, which costs around £5.5 million a year to run, a sum which the government only provide 10% of the budget for.
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Alison Parker, event organiser and a spokesperson from Forget Me Not Hospice told YorkshireLive how events like this help the charity raise money to keep the support afloat.
She said: “We do this every year to raise funds for our families, we’re looking to raise around £30,000 today in pure profit which will go a long way in making a difference to the children and families we look after.
“It costs us five and a half million every year just to cover the costs, we hold 10% of our funds from the government so the other 90% we have to fundraise for.
“Every penny counts and this is one of our largest events that will make a huge difference to keep the hospice going.”
Amid the explosion of colour and scenes of a fun family day out, both the 5K and 3K fun run will go on to raise thousands of pounds to support local families facing end-of-life care for a child.
Like EJ and her family, who turned to the hospice before the birth of their daughter Shalome, who was born quadriplegic. She spoke to YorkshireLive along with her eldest daughter, Faith.
Telling their story, she said: “As we were coming up to the due date we were told our daughter Shalome was ‘incompatible with life’, it was just heartwrenching.
“Just two weeks before she was born we got in touch with Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice, and it just injected hope into our journey. We were told to plan a funeral, we were told that we wouldn’t have her up to full term, we wouldn’t have her for birth and if she survived that we were talking for hours, minutes or a week maybe.
“And instead of everybody tiptoeing around us and planning for this horrendous event they were celebrating the life of our girl.”
Ej and her family found out they were expecting a girl and named her Shalome, meaning peace. Despite the challenges little Shalome face her family say she was the biggest communicator with ‘the biggest eyes’.
“She had the absolute quality of life because of Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice, and because of them we were all together as a family”, said EJ.
The family has since welcomed their third child, a boy named Caleb, and they faced huge support from the Hospice as to how to bring a new child into a family that would face bereavement. Ej said: “We got to the point where we thought ‘actually her disability and a fact Forget Me Not is in our lives enriched our life.”
Shalome sadly passed away just 10 weeks after the arrival of baby Caleb and again it was a time when the whole family, Ej, her husband, Faith and baby Caleb, could be to spend time together and be looked after whilst they dealt with the initial wave of grief.
“They’ve changed our lives forever”, finished EJ.
Tributes to lost children were seen throughout the day as family and friends gathered to raise money and celebrate lives with an abundance of colour. Like the Eccles family, pictured above, remembering baby Miley Aurora.
Kirklees Councillor Masood Ahmed was there, with hints of purple paint, to open and officiate the fundraising event.
“I think the money that we raise for the families will go a really long way to support, so I’m really pleased to come and officiate and open the colour run today.
“The Forget Me Not Hospice is also my chosen charity for the year so I’m really pleased, there are so many families here to support what is such a fantastic Hospice.”
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