Foster carer to complete 95-kilometre Park Run challenge

Jacqueline Greenough and her husband, John, are running 19 different 5-kilometre Park Runs across the county – with only one left to complete.

Once the challenge has been completed, the pair will have run 95-kilometres – the equivalent of running from Cheltenham to London.

The first park run was completed in March in the Forest of Dean, with the final Park Run taking place in Gloucester Park on November 18.

Jacqueline, who has fostered 25 children with her family since 2017, is a keen runner and wanted to take on the challenge to raise awareness of fostering.

Jacqueline said: “We set ourselves this challenge, but really wanted to use the opportunity to promote fostering with your local council. For the last two years we have had a Baby living with us and we push them in a buggy on all of our runs. They love to see all the runners and hopefully we’re helping to create lovely memories to treasure.

“On one of our first park runs of the challenge, our buggy broke but, luckily, the Newent Mend and Repair Cafe nearby kindly repaired our front wheel.”

John Greenough said: “The support we get on the run is marvellous, really. People always call out friendly encouragement when they see our fostering t-Shirts, and we always have quite a few people approaching us to ask questions.”

Cllr Stephen Davies, Cabinet member responsible for fostering at Gloucestershire County Council, said: “This is an amazing challenge to undertake, and I am delighted that Jacqueline and her family have done it to raise awareness for the need for foster carers in the county.

“We are always looking for new people to foster within Gloucestershire. I would urge anyone that is interested in fostering to talk to our teams to get more information.”

To be foster carer people need to be over 21 and have a spare room or rooms in their home. There is no upper age limit to be a foster carer, as long as the individual is active and in good health.

If you are interested in becoming a foster carer, visit www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/fostering for more information or call 01242 532 654.