Mark and Lou Raise Over £500 in Birmingham Half Marathon

Congratulations were in order in October 2019 when Dr Mark Holland and his partner Lou completed the Birmingham Half Marathon and raised over £500 for Building Futures in The Gambia.

Their support was particularly welcome because we were still working towards completing the classrooms at Busumbala Nursery School. Every fundraiser was another step towards providing children with a place to learn.

A wet and eventful race day

Our original report mentioned pouring rain and police intervention during the event. We do not have further details of the incident in the archive, so we are not adding to that account. What matters is that Mark and Lou finished their run and exceeded the £500 fundraising mark.

This result followed their September 2019 half-marathon appeal, which explained why they were running to support educational opportunities for children in The Gambia.

Mark Holland’s continuing connection to BFiG

Mark is a physical education lecturer at Birmingham Newman University, and his connection with BFiG extends beyond the half marathon. He travelled to The Gambia with Newman students and Mark Chidler during the university’s later, final expeditions.

He is also a very talented photographer. His photographs have appeared in numerous BFiG calendars, including our 2027 charity calendar, mentioned in Counting, Calendars and Monkeys.

A contribution to the future school

In 2019, the charity was still looking forward to opening its first nursery classroom. Our report expressed the hope that the opening would happen soon, although the actual first intake would eventually arrive in October 2023. That makes the half-marathon fundraiser another valuable chapter in the school’s longer history.

For the full story of the project since then, visit our Busumbala Nursery School page.

Thank you, Mark and Lou! The original TotalGiving fundraising page is retained as a historical reference, not an active appeal.