Parents of premature babies organise walk for Surrey hospital charity

Catherine and Russell Wait, parents of two children born premature, organised a 5K fancy dress walk with friends and family in aid of Royal Surrey County Hospital Charity's Closer to Care campaign, after their children spent a total of 10 weeks in the hospital's SCBU.

The money raised from the walk will go towards the charity's £500,000 appeal to redevelop the hospital's current SCBU. Once complete, parents with premature or sick babies will have the option to stay overnight next to their babies' cot.

Catherine says: "The option to stay by our babies' sides overnight would have saved us a lot of tears. When we heard about the plans for the redevelopment, we felt strongly that we wanted to support the charity."

The event saw 43 of the couple's friends and family gather in fancy dress for the walk, which took place along the old railway line in Cranleigh. Of the 17 children who also took part in the walk, nine had been cared for in Royal Surrey's SCBU. Costumes included Henry VIII, bumble bees and a flamingo.