Swooping in to save the day, a group of mini superheroes toddled and waddled along Clacton seafront for the second year running to raise funds for Meningitis Now
Dressed as Hulk, Spiderman, Supergirl and other caped crusaders, the nine toddlers plus their parents took part in a Toddle Waddle and raised at least £400 for the charity.
Organiser Rebecca Edgar said she had decided to hold the event because her older brother had had the disease when he was ten months old, as did her nephew when he was 23 months.
“Thankfully they both survived with no lasting after-effects,” said Rebecca. “They were incredibly lucky. This has made Meningitis Now a charity very close to our family’s hearts.”
Rebecca said she had organised the first Toddle Waddle in 2018 when she saw the campaign for the event on Facebook. “I have always wanted to raise money for Meningitis Now, and now I have a toddler, I thought it was the best way to do it,” she said.
“I’m not a fan of bake sales, and don’t want to do a marathon. This was something my whole family could get involved in.“
Superhero theme
Last year they had six children walking and they raised £375 but this year the group started planning sooner, and ordered resources from Meningitis Now to help with fundraising. They decided to take the same route but to make it more interesting adopted the theme of superheroes.
“I am so pleased about how successful we’ve been, and how much we’ve raised so far just from our little sponsored walk!” said Rebecca. “We handed out the little symptom cards along the way as well, so hopefully we’ve helped raise awareness too.”
Meningitis Now fundraising assistant Kat Hollywell said she was very impressed with the amazing efforts of the group of little waddlers and particularly liked seeing the costumes they were wearing.
“It just goes to show that on some occasions, superheroes really DO wear capes,” she said. “Thank you so much to all the children who took part, to their parents and to the organisers."
“This really was a superhuman effort and hopefully all the heroes will know that the funds they have raised will go to a great cause”.
To find out more about Toddle Waddle and to organise your own event please visit our Toddle Waddle web page.
