“We wanted to do something bigger, better and a bit different. I’d seen some people I follow talking about the Circle Line and it seemed like a really good idea.”
Becca Taylor
Passing some of London’s most iconic sights, including Big Ben and Westminster Abbey, as well as most of the capital’s main railway stations, Becca Taylor and her partner Will Perrett, hope to raise thousands of pounds for St Christopher’s as they run the route of the Circle Line.
Already veterans of two half marathons, but not confident of making the full marathon distance, Becca was looking for something a bit different as she sought to repay St Christopher’s for the support they provided her family when her grandfather Derek Taylor was approaching the end of his life last year.
“My grandad had Parkinson’s and St Christopher’s really helped my family through that time. So, when it said on the back of the funeral hymn sheet about donations to the hospice, I started to think about what we could do.
“We wanted to do something bigger, better and a bit different. I’d seen some people I follow talking about the Circle Line and it seemed like a really good idea.”
Becca and Will, both aged 29, aren’t planning to run it alone either. The idea is that after meticulous planning by Becca to calculate the exact times they’ll be at each station, friends and family can join them in running stages of the course.
Sunday 15 September is inked into the calendar as the day when they’ll start in Hammersmith, run 32km and finish at Edgware Road, all in memory of grandad Derek and to raise much needed funds for St Christopher’s.
“St Christopher’s were really supportive and good at explaining what to expect.”
“Grandad was always very energetic. He worked as an electrician and never really retired. We lived just up the road from him in Croydon and saw him a lot. When he was moved into a home, St Christopher’s were really supportive and good at explaining what to expect.
“I then found out that they’d supported my Mum’s Dad too and a friend of my mum’s. It just feels like a charity that has helped a lot of people I know but that not that many people know about it.”
Training will include stretches of the Circle Line route to ensure Becca and Will don’t get lost on the day. It might also include another novelty route – the Kebab Run. Starting at a kebab shop in Clapham and finishing ten miles away in Stratford at a sister kebab shop.
“It just feels like a charity that has helped a lot of people I know but that not that many people know about it.”
The pair hope to complete the run in about four hours, including the stops to meet up with friends along the way.
They haven’t yet set a fundraising target, although have the added bonus of guaranteed matched funding from Will’s employer.
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St Christopher’s Hospice is proud to join the celebrations during Volunteers Week 2026 which marks a nationwide celebration of the remarkable contribution volunteers make to communities across the UK, from 1 –7 June.
