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Five members from a Newport Family are amongst the first to register to do a new Santa Run in Abergavenny. The Welch family, consisting of Mum, Tracy and Dad, Gareth, with their two children Emily (10) and Matthew (9) and Aunty, Karen will all put their festive outfits on and join the short sponsored Santa run in Bailey Park on 11 December to raise money for St. David’s Foundation Hospice Care.

“We enjoy doing things together as a family, and we thought it would be good to do something that was not only fun, but would also help others. Santa Runs are ideal, no matter what your fitness levels are – you can run, jog or walk, said Karen. 

“We’re all so busy at Christmas time rushing around, so it’s good to stop and think about others, not just ourselves, and to raise funds for a really good cause at the same time. We’ve already started some training sessions to get into shape.

Teaming up with Abergavenny Food Festival, St David’s Foundation are offering the participants free entry to the Christmas Food and Drink Fair, so after the run, the Welch’s will all be able to stroll around the stalls, soak up the Christmas atmosphere, sample different seasonal foods and watch demonstrations. There is even a free drink for the participants who present themselves at the Fair with their special Santa hats on.

For the first time the Foundation will be holding 3 Festive Fun Runs.  Starting with the first in Caldicot Castle on Saturday 3rd, followed by Cwmbran on Saturday 10th, and finishing with the Abergavenny run on Sunday11th December.

Christine Vorres, from St. David’s Foundation said “This is our 5th year for the Cwmbran Santa Run, and it has always been really popular, especially with families, so we thought that it would be good to take the events out to other areas as well. We decided on Caldicot Castle as it is very atmospheric and we have had wonderful support from the local council, Waitrose and the Magor Explorers.

All this, together with the support that we have from Western Power Distribution who has provided some funding means that the participants can enjoy themselves whilst supporting their local hospice charity.

Our aim is to hold festive events suitable for all the family, and we will raise valuable funds to support our work with patients in S E Wales.”

St David's Foundation Hospice Care provides free specialist care to more than 2,950 people with cancer or other life-threatening illnesses and their families in the counties of Newport, Monmouthshire, Caerphilly and Torfaen.

Founded in 1979, today St David's Foundation Hospice Care provides its services 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and includes:

• A team of 130 staff (including clinical nurse specialists and hospice at home nurses, helping people remain in their homes for their care and working alongside NHS practitioners) and 600 volunteers
• Two day hospices in Torfaen and Caerphilly
• A family support team
• A complementary therapy service
• Resource centres in Chepstow and Monmouth

During the financial year 2009-2010, St David’s Foundation Hospice Care cared for and supported a record number of patients and their families throughout Caerphilly, Monmouthshire, Newport and Torfaen. The organisation’s four teams of Community Clinical Nurse Specialists care for on average nearly 1,000 patients a day, and the number of ‘care hours’ provided by the Hospice at Home service regularly reaches a total of over 44,000 hours a year.