A SCARLET sea of Santas descended on Oxford this morning for the tenth Helen and Douglas House Santa Run.

Thousands of residents, young and old, ran from Broad Street to raise money and awareness for the Oxford based charity.

Video by Andrew Walmsley 

Among them were the Forth family from Faringdon, who had a very special reason to run: their daughter Ruby was cared for at Helen House for most of her life.

Shaun and Julie and their son Josh donned the traditional Santa suit to say thank you to the charity.

Oxford Mail:

Mrs Forth, 52, said: "Ruby had complex medical needs so managing to bring up two small children and keep a marriage together is phenomenally hard, but Helen House supported all Ruby's medical needs which enabled us to have a family life.

"This is our first Santa run and we are very excited."

Between them, the family have raised more than £800 in sponsorship for the charity.

Oxford Mail:

A team of 16 from Stagecoach Oxford took on the challenge to help the charity smash its £75,000 target.

Karen Coventry, business development manager at Stagecoach Oxford, is one of the team taking part. She said the company was delighted to be joining the event and raising funds for the hospice, which is its charity of the year.

She said: “This is third year we have taken part in the Santa Run to support our charity of the year, Helen and Douglas House.

"We have 16 runners taking part this year who are all looking forward to swapping their bus uniforms for a Santa suit.

Video by Pete Hughes 

“Christmas is all about coming together and having fun and this event does just that.”

The team have so far raised £300 for the charity. Some of the group even took their children along to take part in the run.

All of the participating Santas ran, walked or joghed the 3.5km route through the centre of Oxford, kicking off in Broad Street at 9am. The trail takes the runners to University Parks and then back to Broad Street through the Oxford colleges.

Before they set off they warmed up in costume:

Head of community and events at Helen and Douglas House, Lauren Kemp, said: “This year the event is celebrating its 10th anniversary and it has raised a fantastic amount of money over the past 10 years.

“It’s one of our signature events, and people really know the charity because of the Santa run.

Oxford Mail:

Sophie Bonnefoi took this picture through University Parks 

“It epitomises what the hospice is about: not a dark, morbid and sad place but a place full of laughter and about living life to the full – doing fun things that make real memories.”

Each year, Helen and Douglas House costs £5.1m to run and only 14p for every £1 is from non-voluntary sources. This means the charity needs to fundraise more than £4 million from the community.

The hospice provides end of life and respite care both medically and through therapies such as play, music, hydro, sensory and physio. It also offers support to families. 

Oxford Mail:

Broad Street, between Turl Street and Catte Street, were closed from 6am to 11am.

Catte Street, Parks Road, South Parks Road, St Cross Road, Jowett Walk, Longwall Street, Holywell Street and Mansfield Road were closed between 8.30am and 10.15am.

Because of the closure of Longwall Street, westbound traffic from The Plain roundabout was prevented from entering High Street other than for access to properties in High Street and Merton Street.