Misc News – Finish Line Fund

Inter Club Relay

A massive thanks to everyone who supported the charity in the Virtual relay.
390 runners covering 1,345 miles and Southend AC coming out on top.
We are overwhelmed with the support and will update with a final fundraising total in due course and also detail where our latest grants have been donated too.

Thanks again to all of our wonderful supporters.

FINISH LINE FUND VIRTUAL RELAY FOR SOUTHEND RUNNING CLUBS – SATURDAY 10TH APRIL

We are pleased to announce that we have had a great response from Southend area running clubs to this event and are looking forward to providing runners with the opportunity to both compete for their clubs and in turn support the charity.

Given the success we had in defibrillator installations in 2020, we thought it appropriate to award the winning club with a portable defibrillator, for use at their runs and events.

Runners will run in half hour slots from 8am to 6pm in a Covid friendly manner with the winning club being determined by a combination of the average distanced travelled and number of completed runs.

Benfleet RC, Flyers Southend, Hockley Trail Runners, Leigh on Sea Striders, Pitsea RC, REDs, Southend AC and South Woodham Runners have all confirmed they will be taking part.

If you need any further information, please contact you club representative.

Good luck to everyone taking part.

New Merchandise Store

The Finish Line Fund’s new merchandise store is now up and running with orders already being placed.

If you fancy a swanky new shirt, snood or a snazzy umbrella (other items are available) click on the merchandise tab and have a look.

Thanks to Carly at Dandelion Prints for producing our items.

FINISH LINE FUND 2020 REVIEW

It was a busy year for the charity in 2020.

Despite Covid 19 severely restricting live fundraising event opportunities, the Charity was successful in exceeding its fundraising budget of £13,000 set in April 2019 for the period to 31^st October 2020. Many thanks to everyone who contributed and made that happen.

This success was due in the main to the extremely successful use of online campaigns via Just Giving.

One of these, a marathon campaign by one of the trustees has raised c£3,000, whilst a specifically targeted campaign to raise funds for a defibrillator for East Beach, Southend-on-Sea raised c£1,500

In early 2020, the Charity agreed to work with Southend Council to raise funds for the installation of two defibrillators on Southend-on-Sea seafront. These being two of the first three installed anywhere on the seafront.

Installation was completed at Jubilee Beach in July 2020 and East Beach in September 2020. These being full public access facilities, making the seafront a safer place for locals and visitors alike.

Additionally, the Charity has provided a defibrillator for a local race organiser to use at their events and has also agreed a strategy to focus on funding similar facilities for other clubs within the area where applicable.

A number of grants were made to race organisers and clubs for equipment and to cover the cost of medical facilities at events. Given the pandemic, some of these grants will roll over into 2020/21.

In addition to the provision of three defibrillators as detailed, another key achievement was to fund the set-up costs (£3,000) of a second parkrun in Southend-on-Sea at Chalkwell Beach. This successfully launched in March 2020, being attended by 953 runners during the first three weeks, before the lockdown struck.

2021 has already seen us agree four more grants to local sports clubs and we reiterate once more how grateful we are to all our supporters.