Rood Mums star in photo shoot

Thursday, 19 April 2012

Could Page 3 be the destination for the glamorous photos taken of a local group of Starlight Walkers? Maybe. Maybe not. But there were plenty of willing volunteers to take part in the shoot at Holy Rood Catholic Primary School in Watford, this week.

‘Rood Mums’ team leader Mary D’Souza has gathered a team of ten Walkers to take part in the Peace Hospice’s flagship fundraising event and more are joining all the time. Mary said: “I’ve already had a great response from mums at the school. Then, seeing us have so much fun on the photo shoot encouraged even more mums to sign up for the Walk on 23 June.”

Mary works at the Peace Hospice and was keen to add: “The Rood Mums team name is just a bit of fun, we are all very polite and well behaved really. With so many of us taking part in the Walk though I do think it will have a ‘Saturday night out’ feeling to it.”

With such a large group there was always going to be a range of reasons for taking part in the Walk. For Sonia Andrade it was being part of a team effort, for Jayne Baker it was to continue in her mum’s footsteps, raising money for the Hospice and Siobhan Smith cheekily added: “It’s a good cause and my friend Mary made me!”

Rood Mum, Sam Blood has her own reasons for taking part having lost her dad in January. Sam explained: “It all happened pretty quickly but we had help from the Hospice at Home service initially and then later on Dad was moved to the Hospice itself. The care he received was wonderful but it doesn’t stop there. It extends past the patient to the family and friends.”

Sam added poignantly: “I’m walking in memory of my Dad and will probably shed a few tears on the night but being part of Mary’s gang means I know the girls will keep me laughing along the way.”

If you have been inspired by the Rood Mums and want to get involved with this year’s Starlight Walk then sign up by clicking here