Among the guests were Ed Tollemache, the King's Godson, who took on an epic challenge in the Marathon des Sables - a series of ultras ran in the blistering heat of the Sahara Desert in Morocco - to raise over £55K for the new Cambridge Children's Hospital; Cancer survivor David Bateson, who after being diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer decided to raise funds for the new Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital, raising £50,000 for cancer services. David's cancer has now disappeared from his body following pioneering immunotherapy treatment. Also speaking on the show - and all raising money for the Cambridge Children's Hospital - are Margaret Seaman, a 95-year-old knitting phenomenon from Norfolk whose amazing creations got her a private audience with the late Queen and Ed's sister and her niece, Selina and Jenny Hopkins, whose daring wing walk raised thousands for the new hospital, set to be built in Cambridge by 2030. To hear their stories, don't forget to tune into Cambridge Radio this Sunday (22nd) at midday.
A keen ultra runner who shared his story of completing the Marathon des Sables on Addenbrooke Charitable Trust’s new radio show has raised over £55,000 for the pioneering new Cambridge Children’s Hospital after completing the epic challenge referred to as ‘the toughest foot race on Earth.’
Ed Tollemache took on the challenge of April’s Marathon des Sables (referred to as ‘MDS’ by enthusiasts) earlier this year to fundraise for Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust (ACT), the official charity for Addenbrooke’s in Cambridge which funds high-tech equipment, specialist staff, extra comforts and vital research above and beyond what the NHS is able to provide.
The challenge, whose name translates as Marathon of the Sands, is an epic challenge comprised of 6 back-to-back stages, with distances ranging from 30km-90km per day, for a total of 252 kilometres.
Talking about how it went, Ed told hosts Gavin Richard, from Cambridge Radio, and Danni Smith, PR and Communications Lead for ACT:
“They say that 90% of the challenge in the desert is all in your head and the other 10% is the running bit. I did doubt myself at the start. Going into it you worry about getting sick or getting injured, you could turn your ankle and then your event is over, but I didn’t doubt my physical ability and once I’d got through day one, I felt a bit more comfortable with it.”
Ed, whose family own and run the Helmingham Hall and Gardens in Suffolk, ran the toughest of three challenges – referred to as the ‘Marathon des Sables Legendary’ - carrying his own supplies of food and clothes in a rucksack weighing 99 kilogrammes in the blistering heat of the desert, with temperatures reaching up to around 40 degrees centigrade.
He completed the challenge earlier this year with his first cousin Tom, who between them raised over £100,000 for charity – with a staggering £55,725 raised by Ed for the Cambridge Children’s Hospital (CCH), which will be the first specialist children’s hospital for the East of England and will be built on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus by 2030. The hospital will be the first in the world to fully integrate treatment of children’s mental and physical health, alongside world-leading research.
Discovering Ed’s link to the Royal family, Gavin said: “We can’t let this incredible achievement lie without mentioning you’ve got a fairly famous Godfather haven't you, Ed?”
To which Ed jokingly replied: “I do yes. A little-known chap, King Charles the third.”
Asking if the King had been in touch, Ed replied: “He has written and so he knows I’ve done it. I haven’t seen him since I’ve come back but I’m sure that there will be congratulations when I see him next.”
Interviewed in the studio alongside Ed for this Sunday’s show (June 22nd) which goes out at midday and features EXTREME FUNDRAISERS, was father-of-three David Bateson, who began fundraising for ACT after being diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer on his birthday back in 2021. Since undergoing pioneering immunotherapy treatment his cancer has now disappeared, and David from Bedfordshire, has raised £50,000 for cancer services.
ACT has a public fundraising campaign for both the Cambridge Children’s Hospital and the Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital (CCRH), which will be the first specialist cancer hospital for the East of England, bringing together clinical and research expertise under one roof – allowing clinicians to detect cancer earlier, treat it more precisely and save more lives.
Other guests – all with royal links or stories – joined by zoom and included 95-year-old great-great grandmother, Margaret Seaman, from Norfolk, whose knitted creations of famous landmarks such as Buckingham Palace and the Sandringham Estate caught the attention of global media, raising over £300,000 for the new children’s hospital.
Ed’s sister, Selina Hopkins, an ambassador for the new children’s hospital also appeared on the show with her niece Jenny, after they completed a daunting wing walk to raise money for the hospital. Their Just Giving page currently stands at an impressive £6,500 but their total is now well over £7,000.
Amongst the stories on the show was Margaret’s amusing story of how the late Queen Elizabeth turned up unexpectedly whilst she and her daughter, Tricia, were setting up Margaret’s knitted Sandringham Estate for a special viewing event at Sandringham Estate itself.
Describing the day she met the late Queen as ‘the best day of my life’, Margaret, said: “My daughter and I were setting up and getting ready to open the following day. I was looking in some boxes for a tree that my daughter had asked me to find and I saw somebody’s feet sort of walk up to me and I thought ‘well, that’s not my daughter's shoes, who’s that?’ And I looked up the body, and when I got to her face, I realised it was the Queen and I just said, ‘oh hello’. And she nodded, as much as to say, ‘I caught you, didn’t I?!”
Margaret, who has raised an impressive £30,000 for the Cambridge Children’s Hospital with her knitted creations which are now on permanent display in Norfolk at Wroxham Miniature Worlds, said: “She certainly did catch me. I had no idea she was down that weekend and didn't dream she would have time to come and see the knitting, but she did. She stayed for 15 minutes, chatted about it, and she pointed at some of the gardens and said, ‘oh look, mummy’s garden’ so I thought her mum probably designed those gardens, I don’t know.”
ACT’s Amazing People goes out at midday on Cambridge Radio on the fourth Sunday of every month and features the professionals, caregivers and inspiring fundraisers who help make the Cambridge hospitals such a special place.
July’s show will feature interviews with two of Addenbrooke’s robotic surgeons and a patient who has undergone one of the first pioneering double operations to take place at the hospital. Cambridge Radio is the community broadcaster for Cambridge and South Cambs with a coverage of around 309,000 and broadcasts online and on FM/DAB across the city and South Cambridgeshire.
To catch up on ACT’s Amazing People go to ACT’s website at: https://act4addenbrookes.org.uk/podcast and Cambridge Radio’s website at: https://cambridge105.co.uk/amazing-people-25-05-2025
If you would like to donate to the public campaigns to help see the pioneering new cancer research and children’s hospitals built in Cambridge, please go to: https://act4addenbrookes.org.uk/donate
