News Beat
Quakers Running Club donate cuddle blanket to Darlington hospital
On Tuesday (December 23), runners from the Darlington-based club presented a specially donated cuddle blanket to staff at Darlington Memorial Hospital, a comfort item that can help families spend extra precious moments with a baby after loss.
The blanket was donated after the club raised more than £4,165 for the national child-loss charity 4Louis, far surpassing their original fundraising hopes.
The fundraising was inspired by club members Kylie and Dan Rushton-Orton, who experienced the heartbreaking loss of their daughter Olivia Rushton-Orton in February 2024.
Olivia lived for just an hour after being born at 25 weeks and six days —but thanks to support from 4Louis, which provided a cuddle cot- the couple were able to spend 11 extra days with their daughter.
The effort also marked a milestone for Quakers Running Club — it was their 30th-anniversary charity campaign, and members went above and beyond, setting ambitious running and fundraising goals.
The result was more than double what the club typically raises for its chosen charities, a point of great pride for chair Rob Gilham.
Rob, 58, said: “It’s more than we’ve ever raised in the past, we’ve mostly doubled what we normally raise for any of our club charities.
“Our members really pulled together to get beyond what we asked them to help reach this target.”
Today, representatives from the club handed over the cuddle blanket to the couple – a comfort item designed to give grieving parents extra moments with their lost child.
Rob, who has been running since secondary school, was inspired after visiting the 4Louis offices in Sunderland earlier this year, where he volunteered for the day, making memory and burial boxes.
He continued: “It’s given them some sort of comfort after the grief of losing their daughter. I think they were amazed that the club pulled together without them knowing to raise this money.
“The blanket has a plaque on it in memory of Olivia, so her legacy will live on in the hospital.”
Quakers Running Club is known locally not just for its training sessions — which take place every Tuesday and Thursday evening and bring together runners from 18 to their 70s — but for its warm, supportive atmosphere.
Members don’t just clock up their miles, they rally around one another, and around causes like this one, in ways that touch lives far beyond the finish line.
Rob, who also runs an electrical contract business, said: “It just goes to prove what an amazing bunch of runners we have, and when you ask them to do something like that, they don’t even bat an eyelid, they just pull out all the stops.
“It’s a credit to every single one of the members that they achieved that. I feel beyond proud, it’s great to be chair of a club that’s got so many wonderful members who want to do something like this in memory of their daughter.”
Quakers Running Club meet at 6.30pm every Tuesday and Thursday evening for training sessions as well as social runs throughout the year.
For more information about Quakers Running Club and their upcoming events, visit quakersrunningclub.org.uk or their social media pages.
