South Tyneside gym raises more than £7,000 for the Chloe & Liam Trust in memory of a legendary barber
A South Tyneside gym has helped an annual fundraising event to raise money for the Chloe & Liam Trust - all in memory of a legendary barber.
Black Sheep Fitness Academy held its annual 24-hour challenge in honour of legendary barber Allan Stone on March 22 as it looked to raise money for the Chloe & Liam Together Forever Trust in the process.
The gym hosts the challenge every year to honour Allan, who was a member at Black Sheep Fitness Academy.
The Chloe & Liam Together Forever Trust was set up by the families of Chloe Rutherford and Liam Curry, a young couple from South Shields, who tragically lost their lives in the Manchester Arena terror attack in 2017.
The charity’s aim is to honour Chloe and Liam’s love and talent in performing arts and sports.
It does so by supporting other young people with passion and talent in these industries to achieve their goals and follow their dreams.
The 24-hour challenge, which was taken on by 25 gym members, saw £7,139 raised for the Trust.
Mark Rutherford, Chloe’s dad, has told the Shields Gazette that raising money in Allan’s name makes the challenge extra special.
He said: “Myself, my son, and Liam’s brother go to the gym so we all took part in this year’s challenge, which was the hardest one yet.
“It was really intense as you worked in a team of four over the course of the 24 hours, meaning you did six separate hours over the challenge.
“To us, it is massive just to be able to do something for Allan, he was my barber for around 30 years so I knew him really well anyway, so to be able to this in his memory is great.”
Mark also gave an insight into how the money will be used by the Trust in the coming weeks as they look to review hundreds of applications asking for support.
He added: “That amount of money is unbelievable for us, especially as we are a small charity so to be able to get funding of that magnitude is fantastic.
“We were expecting no where near that and we’ve got a trustees meeting coming up soon where we will review hundreds of applications.
“So to have that sort of funding will help a lot of people and it is great thing for us to keep on doing.
“I want to say a big thank you to all the gym members, as well as Lee and Eilish Tiffin who own the gym.
“They’ve now raised more than £30,000 for us now over the years and they are constantly adding to that, as well as continuing to support Pink and Blue Day.
“I can’t them enough.”
You can find out more about the Chloe & Liam Together Forever Trust by visiting: https://togetherforevertrust.com/.
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