"The club has been there for everybody, through good and bad" - South East Club of the Year: Fareham Running Club

Fareham Running Club were named Club of the Year in the South East at our recent Regional Volunteer Awards. We spoke to some club members and officials at Fareham to find out what makes their club so special.

The club lost a valuable leader last year when their close friend and fellow club member, Rachel, passed away. They set up Rachel's Legacy in her memory, as Paula Williams, Club Secretary & Training Coordinator, explains:

"Rachel was somebody who was passionate about leading, she was committed to the club. She'd been from a couch to 5k perspective, so she'd gone all the way through and it showed in her passion when leading.

"So when Rachel passed away suddenly, we wanted her legacy to continue within the club. Every year, we have a new leader come in and people apply to become that leader.

"Then they follow in her footsteps in making sure that our club has that supportive, nurturing, committed leader, especially for a steadier pace range, which is where Rachel's passion was.

"We're super proud of that as an incentive that we continue on in her name."

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Club Chair, James Musselwhite, says the club always make a point of thanking their volunteers, and recognise the importance of volunteers to the running of a club.

"As a matter of course, we always thank our volunteers at the club, but volunteers very rarely give up their time and services for thanks. They give up their time because they're invested in something that we've created here.

"They know that they've got benefits from other people volunteering as part of their running and community journey with us, which means that they're more likely to give up their time and encourage other people to volunteer as well.

"I always think that if you're rushing to thank people, you're probably doing the volunteer process the wrong way round and you really need to set the foundations in place to get those volunteers as part of the cornerstones of your community so that they can then give up their time and their love, their care, and empower everyone else to have a better time at the club."

Chris Holliday, Men's Captain at the club, explained how much it meant to him and the club to be nominated as Club of the Year, before they learned they had won the award.

As a member, personally, the club being nominated for Club of the Year, it means it means so much.

"Not only is it an award for everybody because the club has been there for everybody through all the good times where we have massive achievements, but it's also there through the bad times as well.

"That kind of like is a acceptance of life. You have good times, you have bad times. We've had marriages, we've had kids with club members who've got together, fantastic times.

"We've also had people who've lost loved ones and the club's been there for them to help them through those bad times. We've been there, we've all pulled together."