Marathon man gets set for a tasty fund-raiser

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DROITWICH man Colin Baker who is running the London Marathon in aid of children’s charity Action Medical Research, is holding a curry night at a town pub to boost his funds.

The evening, which will cost £12 per head, is being held at The Gardener’s Arms next Saturday (February 4).

It will feature poppadoms, a samosa, salad and mint dip for the first course, Colin’s own creation, Cream of India Soup, for the second one and a main of either

chicken or vegetable balti with naan bread and rice.

There will also be live music at the event by ‘One Man Banned’, aka rhythm and blues artist Stafford Murray.

Colin decided this time last year that he wanted to do a big charity fund-raiser and then decided on the London Marathon.

He said: “I’m not a runner - I didn’t even have a pair of trainers until I decided to do the marathon.”

He added the last time he did any running was in the Droitwich Fun Run - that was just five miles in 1986 and was done by him on a whim at the last minute.

But, he said, had been building up slowly over the past year, managing 13 miles on December 22 and 15 on January 7.

He hopes to raise £1,800 for the Action Medical Research, which is a charity dedicated to helping babies and children.

Colin chose the cause after researching a load of different charities.

“Action Medical Research has places for 60 runners a year and choose the ones they would like to represent them.”

And he has had a good start - Colin has already collected £800 in cash donations, with a further £400 to £500 pledged.

Among those he said he was grateful to were the regulars at the Gardener’s Arms, Droitwich Working Men’s Club darts team and employees at The Hollies nursery and Travis Perkins.

He said he was looking forward to his countdown to the big race, starting next Saturday with the curry night.

For more on the curry night, e-mail colin@coldclad.com and to sponsor Colin, visit www.action.org.uk/sponsor/colinbaker