Son’s London Marathon tribute to Hadleigh Nursing Home resident

When Simon Skinner was a young child, he fondly recalls standing at the roadside watching the London Marathon with his father John.

Four decades on, he will be taking part in the event on Sunday, April 26th for the first time to raise money for Alzheimer’s Research UK in honour of his father, who is now a resident at Hadleigh Nursing Home.

Mr Skinner, 48, said: “My father was a design teacher for nearly 35 years; he was a maker, a creator, and loved building things with his hands.

“Today, even simple LEGO models and conversations are a struggle. The deterioration since he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s five years ago has been brutal.

“He still vividly recalls watching the race with me in its early days, in the 1980s, but when I told him I was running it this year, he just looked through me. He did not understand.

“Alzheimer’s is an unrelenting, cruel disease that slowly takes away the things that make us who we are. I’m running to honour my dad and to help fund the research that will one day lead to a cure.”

He said his father, now 77, had been a popular teacher at Stowmarket High School after moving to Suffolk from the London area. 

“He was a positive, larger-than-life character who thrived on social connection and was the life and soul of any room he was in,” he said.

He moved into Hadleigh Nursing Home, in Friars Road, Hadleigh, two years ago from his home in Stowupland.

His son, an engineering director for SPL Powerlines, lives in Nottingham but has been fitting in marathon training around his busy work schedule in different parts of the country.

He said: “Training is going okay. I’ve done my share of ‘never do that again’ challenges, cycling 200 miles for charity last year, and even completing a marathon on a rowing machine, but this feels the hardest yet, both emotionally and physically.”

Mr Skinner has already raised nearly £4,000, exceeding his initial £3000 target; people are still able to sponsor him by visiting https://www.justgiving.com/page/simon-skinner-4