A special presentation has been held to celebrate the efforts of the team from United Molasses Group who raised over £35,000 for Starlight Children’s Foundation running the London Marathon.

UM handed over a cheque for £35,558 to Starlight’s representatives, Sam Butler, Head of Public Fundraising, and Lottie Ryan, London Marathon and Community Fundraiser Co-ordinator.

The presentation at UM’s London office was followed by celebratory drinks and lunch involving the UM team of runners, supporters and Starlight.

In total, £18,279 was raised via the runners’ JustGiving page with a further £17,279 being donated in match-funding by our generous shareholders, W&R Barnett Ltd, giving the final grand total.

Upon receiving the cheque, Sam from Starlight said: “Wow! That is an incredible amount raised, please pass our thanks on to everyone involved, it really is phenomenal and greatly appreciated.”

The presentation and lunch were a great way to round off a fantastic experience for everyone involved, in particular our dedicated runners - Shaun Smith [UM Group Finance], Mark Few and Simon Markham [Molasses GB], Nigel Jones [Head of Technical & Quality], Jamie Marshall [UM Terminals, Hull East] and UM customer Henry Eastick from Ragus, the sugars and syrups specialist.

Between them, our team achieved times varying from 3 hours 51 minutes to over 6 hours. Many were undertaking their first ever marathon and endured many hours of training and overcame various injuries before reaching the starting line last month.

For over 30 years, Starlight has enabled children and families to find hope through the power of play after a child is diagnosed with a serious illness.

Last year, the charity reached 1.2 million children in almost 500 hospitals across the UK.

Ben Macer, CEO of UM Group, said: “It was wonderful to get together to celebrate the achievements of our remarkable team of runners and everyone else who played a part in enabling us to raise so much money for Starlight.”

For more information about Starlight, visit www.starlight.org.uk