A well-known figure in Harrogate’s cultural life has set herself a new challenge to support a cause close to her heart.
Sharon Canavar, chief executive of Harrogate International Festivals, is aiming to complete the Great North Run to raise money for the Stroke Association.
She has chosen the charity after leading Harrogate businessman David Simister suffered a life-changing stroke in early March.
Having set a target of £1,500, she is already more than a third of the way there, just 24 hours after setting up her fundraising page – and said she hopes to raise even more before the event in September.
Sharon said:
“David is so well-loved. He was involved in so much and really cared about everything he worked on. Particularly over the pandemic, he was great with keeping the show on the road.
“I don’t think I’ve met anyone with a bad word to say about him.”
After growing up in Harrogate and attending Ashville College, Mr Simister trained as a journalist before founding Different PR with former schoolmate Richard Chew.
As well as working with a number of high-profile clients, he was heavily involved with Harrogate District Chamber of Commerce and became its chief executive in 2021. He has stepped back from his current roles as a result of his illness.
Sharon Canavar in green next to David Simister and the HIF team
Having done the Great North Run three times previously, Sharon said it will be emotional running for a close business connection and personal friend.
She has not run regularly since suffering an injury during the covid pandemic, and credits the Harrogate Town Running Group with getting her back to training to be ready for the Great North Run.
However, she has the small matter of HIF’s busiest few weeks of the year to get through first.
The summer season was launched at the weekend, with the flagship Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival scheduled for two weeks’ time.
This year’s events also include a children’s festival on July 15 and 16, and the Harrogate Carnival on July 30, which falls just six weeks before the run.
Sharon said:
“Running is quite good for stress relief. It’s good to get out and go for a stomp and work things through in my mind.
“David has been such a key part of my personal and festivals life, it’s really giving me the motivation to keep going and raise as much as possible to support him and other people affected by strokes.”
To support Sharon’s fundraising for the Stroke Association, click here.
Harrogate woman who had stroke at 18 to run London marathonA Harrogate woman who had a stroke when she was just 18 years old is running the London marathon to raise money to help others.
Millie Carrington was a healthy teenager when she suffered a stroke during a weekend job at a supermarket in Harrogate 10 years ago.
She had just finished A-levels at Harrogate Grammar School and did not imagine someone so young and healthy could be affected by such a serious condition. Millie said:
“I had many of the telltale signs – the right side of my face fell, I was weak down one side, I had issues speaking and understanding conversation.
“I vividly remember thinking to myself, ‘this feels like I’m having a stroke’. Yet due to my age, both those who witnessed it, as well as myself, didn’t think I was actually having a stroke. I instead put it down to a particularly bad migraine.
“It would take three more days of screaming headaches, trouble walking, problems speaking, writing and communicating, and constant sleeping before I went to a hospital where doctors diagnosed a blood clot in my brain. After many tests, they concluded that the cause was due to a previously undetected hole in my heart, which I later had surgery to close.”
Millie pictured a few months after her stroke.
Millie says she was “incredibly lucky” to make a full recovery after speech and occupational therapy, and heart surgery to fix the cause of the stroke.
In 2015 she and a friend hitchhiked from Edinburgh to Paris to raise money for the Stroke Association, which supports stroke survivors.
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Now she is attempting to raise £2,000 for the same organisation by completing the 26-mile route through the capital on April 23. She also wants to reach out to young people.
She said:
“I especially want to use this opportunity to raise awareness that a stroke can happen to anyone, of any age. I was very lucky to recover in full, but this doesn’t happen for a lot of people.
“Seeking medical attention in the first three hours often means the person receives crucial medication that gives them the best chance of survival and recovery.”
Millie has already raised nearly half of her £2,000 target. You can support her charity run here.