Bead Barmy

The humble bead has had the honour of playing a small part in the Relay for Life, a group of events supporting the work of Cancer Research UK.

Team efforts

Beads strung along the way

Stringing along - beads play their part

‘Dolly Mixtures’ team member, Helene Craddock contacted Beads Unlimited early 2009 to ask if we would be interested in helping out with their event at Yate near Bristol. Helene told us that a bucket of beads is placed at the starting line and bead strings can be obtained for a small donation. Every lap gains the walker or runner another bead enabling them to add them up and see how far they’ve been. It just so happened that we had a spare load of plastic beads with big holes, perfect for the job. Helene told us it really encouraged people to walk another lap or two to try and gain more beads and distance. Many marathons were walked, spurred on by ‘It’s only another X beads!’

Bead aware

Run, walk, hop, skip, jump - any way is fine!

This time last year, our Bead Barmy blog was a mere twinkle in our eye but now it’s fully-fledged and gaining momentum every day. As we now have this platform, we feel that one of its purposes is to help publicise these fantastic events and share stories to help raise awareness. So when Helene returned to us this year we were more than happy to help and keen to broadcast their achievements in the hope that next year they will be even more successful. Lara Simmons, the Yate Relay chairperson gave us a little more insight into what happens on this amazing day:

The purpose of Relay is to raise funds to support Cancer Research and we host a 24-hour relay and celebration to facilitate the fund raising. Last year we had 26 teams. Each team fundraises throughout the year, obtains sponsorship, sells raffle tickets (that we  provide) and raises as much money as they can.
Everybody turns up on the day and the survivors will open the event and first lap at midday on the Saturday and there will be a special lunch provided for them. We have a wonderful DJ (Dom) who plays for 24 hours, Heart radio have opened it the last few years and the Evening Post and local papers turn up. Throughout the day we have 10 different fancy dress laps, each team has a lap of honour to a pre-chosen theme song, the last few years we have had salsa dancing, yoga, tae kwon do and you can get involved in as much or as little as you like. The teams all camp on the inside of the track and each team can have their own drinks and barbecues. There is also a hog roast, ice cream lady, food and a bar available just behind the track. There’s a bouncy castle, a play bus, bands and tea and coffee from Bob’s café around the clock. A bucket of beads is at the start line, and bead strings can be obtained for a small donation. Then every lap gets you another bead, add them up and see how far you’ve been. Marathons can be achieved!

Survivors celebrate with a lap of honour

In the evening, before the sun goes down there is a candle of hope ceremony. That’s the moment where everybody stops and remembers why they are there. People decorate candle bags and these are laid out around the track and set alight, then there is a beautiful reading and a singer performs an appropriate piece – I really couldn’t do it justice with words. Relay for life is a truly inspirational thing to be involved in. People from all walks of life, across the community joining together with the sole purpose of raising money for cancer research, whilst having a great weekend!

Capturing the moment

This year, the Yate Relay raised just over a staggering £38000. What a success! We are already looking forward to helping out with next year’s event. We hope that this post has helped to inspire you to get involved in any way you can think of. There are lots of ideas, big and small, on the Cancer Research UK website.

Posted by: BeadsUnlimited