Charity run in Richmond raises thousands in Twickenham girl's memory
9:00am Sunday 28th October 2012 in News By Rachel Bishop
Willing participants: The runners raised thousands
A charity run in Richmond raised more than £7,000 in memory of a Twickenham girl who died in September 2010.
About 50 members of Bright, a tour operator group, took part in the 10km run by Richmond Riverside last weekend in memory of Emily Goodman, who died from pancreatic cancer aged 29.
A total of £5,500 was raised on the day, with donations pouring in through the JustGiving page set up by Emily’s father, Doug Goodman.
The money was donated to the Hospice of the Good Shepherd in Chester, where Emily spent the last months of her life.
Mr Goodman said: “Emily was a keen runner and completed the London marathon in 2009, so it was entirely appropriate the charity run was used to raise money for Chester Hospice.”
Staff from Bright decided to do a charity run to celebrate their 10th anniversary this year and chose the hospice through their connections with Mr Goodman.
Mr Goodman, who lives in Twickenham, said: “It was difficult not to burst into tears at the time. I felt very honoured they had chosen me.”
He invited Amanda le Bretton from the hospice to the run and presented the money raised to her.
He said: “The hospice was very, very good to Emily – they even let her bring her two kittens in there with her. The day was very moving because some of the members who did the run were not strong runners but they all finished.
“When we did the cheque presentation it was a lovely atmosphere. Everybody was quite happy that they had been able to raise so much money.”
During her life, Emily attended Lady Eleanor Holles School and played the flute and saxophone in the Richmond Youth Orchestra.
She gained her PhD in environmental science at York University and was a qualified scuba diver, ice climber and skier.
Mr Goodman hoped the run would pay tribute to his daughter and raise awareness of pancreatic cancer.
He said: “My objective is to keep the memory of Emily going and help research to help similar causes because pancreatic cancer is a real problem.”
