Surrey Comet reporters put sweat and tears into campaign

The 90-year-old oak monument at St John the Baptist church in Old Malden was felled on Monday, September 5, when thieves tried to steal a strip of lead worth less than £5.

Since then, our Honour the Fallen campaign has raised nearly £2,500 towards the estimated £3,200 restoration bill to allow the annual parade to go ahead on Sunday, November 13.

The team of reporters braved the cold and rain of early morning Kingston to take part in the Run Kingston event on Sunday, October 9, to raise funds for the cause.

The course took them over Kingston Bridge, along the tow path to Hampton Court Palace, down Hampton Court Way and back to Kingston on Portsmouth Road.

Chief reporter David Lindsell was the first to cross the finishing line, completing the 8.2m course in 100th place, taking 1:03:10 hours.

Clare Buchanan earned second spot in the Comet team, finishing just 10 minutes behind her senior colleague.

Martin George achieved 390th place overall, despite sacrificing speed to update Twitter followers on his progress and recording a video of the ordeal for the Surrey Comet website.

Tom Barnes brought up the rear, claiming 540th spot.

All four were easily outpaced by winner Justin West, who finished more than two minutes ahead of the rest of the field in 44:33 minutes.

Overall, 557 runners completed the course, while another 359 athletes, some in training for next month’s New York marathon, completed two circuits to run 16m.

Meanwhile a New Malden estate agent has become the latest company to donate to Honour the Fallen.

Your Move, which has a branch in New Malden High Street, pledged £100 after reading about the attack.

Branch manager Matthew Jones, 34, said: “We are a local branch and meet and speak to a lot of local people every day and felt it was important to give something back to the local area.

“I actually have a lot of friends in the armed forces, police and fire brigade.”

See the video of Run Kingston at surreycomet.co.uk.