By David Hennessy
Ashford Place chief executive Danny Maher ran a solo marathon on Sunday to raise funds for Ashford Place.
Running 26.2 miles in aid of the charity, he has raised £900+.
Danny was prepared to run the Milton Keynes Marathon which was supposed to take place on Sunday 3 May but has been moved due to Covid-19 lockdown.
Danny told The Irish World he was not going to be deterred: “I thought, ‘Why let that stop me? I just wanted to show that we need to keep fit and healthy and get out there as much as social distancing will allow.
“I thought I may as well try and raise some money for Ashford Place as well to help our clients.”
Ashford Place is a Cricklewood-based charity dedicated to providing a practical peer driven support network to those struggling through mental health, dementia, loneliness and homelessness. Lockdown has forced them to find new ways of helping their clients.
“It’s very difficult because we all miss each other and our clients want to physically see us as you would expect. We phone them all the time as well as zooming them and whatzapping them and delivering food parcels and all that, but it doesn’t take the place of actual physical engagement.
“I’m going to use the money to buy a few more tablets, give them to people and then we can have skype meetings or zoom meetings to keep the relationship going.
“At the beginning none of us knew exactly what we were in but seven weeks on now it’s getting to be a long stretch and people haven’t been out especially the over 70s because a lot of them have been shielded.
“More and more we are hearing about increasing anxiety as you would expect: People getting worried and scared. We have to do more of what we’re doing to help people and reduce their anxiety and hopefully we have good news soon from the government easing the restrictions at least.”
You can donate to Danny’s cause by clicking here.
