Muddy trouble for Fat Face double

Two workmates from Fat Face in Macclesfield’s Grosvenor Shopping Centre are planning to tackle a ‘muddy run’ for charity later this month.

Wendy Pattinson and Beth Holt both signed up for the Pretty Muddy fundraiser at Tatton Park, on June 20, without knowing the other was taking part.

The women were each inspired to tackle the challenge, organised by Cancer Research, by relatives and friends who have battled the disease.

Beth, aged 22, will be running with mum Pauline, who has had her own brush with the disease. Pauline’s father, brother and the family’s dog have all also been treated for cancer.

Beth said: “It was my mum who wanted to do it, even though she didn’t really know what was involved. So I said I’d do it with her and signed us both up – and then I told her about what it’s really like once it was too late!

“It is for a good cause and we wanted to do it because my mum had a breast cancer scare herself. She went for routine screening a couple of years ago and they found that she had cancerous tissue. We were really lucky as it was caught so early it hadn’t even become cancerous cells yet and it was quite a straightforward day surgery to remove it.”

Being aware that Pauline was one of the lucky ones, the two woman are determined to raise as much as they can for Cancer Research – especially as Pauline’s father and brother have also suffered with different cancers.

Not only that, the family dog, Honey, is a cancer survivor and has inspired the Holt team name for the event –  the Honey Bees.

Pauline, 55 and Beth have set a fundraising target of £150 and are on track to raise that with their sponsorship efforts, while dad John has vowed to come and cheer the pair on in their muddy endeavours.

Beth,  a supervisor at Fat Face for two years, was delighted when she discovered that her colleague Wendy Pattinson had also decided to take up the challenge.

Wendy, aged 50, was inspired to do tackle the squelchy course alongside her friend and next door neighbour from Kenilworth Avenue, Fiona, who has not only recovered from bowel cancer herself but lost a family member to cancer recently too.

Wendy, a married mum of two grown up children, said: “It is very close to her heart and I’m just doing it in support of her really. She does quite a lot of running and has done the Race For Life before as well as other five and 10k runs.

“I think I need to start going out with her to get warmed up a bit – but from what I can see it doesn’t really matter if you don’t run.”

The Pretty Muddy run is designed as an obstacle course that participants can run, walk, climb or jog round – getting increasingly grubby along the way.  Cancer Research runs the event as a muddier, dirtier alternative to its traditional five kilometre Race for Life.

Wendy said: “It looks like it’s not so much a run as a walk from one horrible thing to the next! I’m not unfit though, so we should be fine and then I think we’ll be heading straight home for a bath afterwards!”

Anyone wishing to sponsor either Wendy or Beth can call in to Fat Face in the Grosvenor Shopping Centre to make a donation or find either of their pages on JustGiving.com.

Grosvenor Shopping Centre manager Ed Kennedy said: “Beth and Wendy are to be congratulated for volunteering to take part in this charity event.

“Cancer is a  disease that affects so many people and events such as Pretty Muddy help fund vital research.

“I know that our shoppers  are always generous and I am sure that they will be supporting Wendy and Beth  with their fund-raising.”

Macclesfield’s Grosvenor Centre, open daily, is home to 36 stores from fashion, health and beauty to services and food and drink. More details at www.grosvenorshopping.co.uk