We make lots of noise!  

When I first thought about supporting the Stroke Association, I wanted Freddie to be involved too, but he was still quite young. The cheer point was perfect because Freddie can take the megaphone, and we have ‘thundersticks’ (those big sausage-shaped balloons you bang together to make a noise). If they don’t cause enough excitement, we’ve also got maracas and pom-poms like cheerleaders. There’s a great atmosphere – it’s always busy and there’s a live DJ to get everyone in the mood. It’s good to be part of it. 

It's such a fun day 

Once the runners start, they pass us twice: once on the way out and back again. We cheer all the runners, even the other charities. Our Stroke Association lead has an app, so we know where all our runners are, and when they’re going to run past us. We shout their names, cheer and wave our pom-poms when they go past. It’s so much fun. 

We’re usually there until 3pm, although not everyone has to stay that long – just as long as you can make time for. To keep us going, I take sandwiches and drinks, but there are always refreshments provided by the Stroke Association team. 

Sometimes our runners come over to us and chat when they’ve finished. It’s so inspiring to see everyone who’s worked so hard to raise the money. We’ve thought about running, but we’ve not done it yet. We always think, ‘we'll do this next year’, but then we always cheer again. But you never know!

I love meeting the other people who are doing the cheering as well, because everyone's got a story, haven't they? Everyone's got a reason for doing it. It's not just the fundraising, it’s the sharing experiences and awareness raising too. And it's nice to meet people in real life who I’ve had an email or telephone conversation with.

I also love getting the word out there about all the signs and symptoms of stroke. Everything's just lovely about it. It's such a good day. 

Esther Houghton

Why I support the Stroke Association 

We’ve been supporters since 2020, when my husband Phil had a stroke in February of that year and passed away two days later. It was such a shock – he was only 52. I was 45 and our son was nine. It wasn’t a great time in our lives, but we wanted to help others. As we came to terms with it, we thought, ‘what can we do, how can we help?’ We love to talk about him and remember him, and volunteering for the Stroke Association is our way of keeping his memory alive. 

If you’re thinking of volunteering…

Go for it! It’s great fun. It’s a worthwhile day that makes you feel good that you’ve given something back. We're not runners, so to do that 10K would be a massive thing for us. But, you know, don't kid yourself. If you can't run 10K, don't run 10K, you don't need to. You can show your support in other ways.  

It’s an amazing feeling to think that you're supporting others. Because some people don't have any supporters there – they’ve just gone by themselves and run. And they do love it. You can tell from the faces when they hear you shout their name or they see the purple, and we’re all cheering. They always give us a wave and a smile. They love the fact that they’re being appreciated.  

Our fundraising 

We keep fundraising even when we’re not cheering at the run. I hold a Facebook fundraiser every year for Phil’s, mine and Freddie’s birthdays. We did the Skip for Stroke too, and Freddie’s organised fundraisers at school. He even won an award for it. We just do little things every so often to keep it in everyone's minds and keep that money coming in. 

We need you

You’ve heard from Esther about the benefits of volunteering. Unfortunately, we often miss vital opportunities to support events because we don’t have enough volunteers. We want to provide gold standard stewardship – cheering on our supporters and thanking them personally is incredibly important. Please join us.

We’re always looking for cheer point volunteers for our events. Check out all our upcoming events and sign up today.