Callum's London Marathon 2025 fundraiser for Stonewall
Callum Henry-Till is raising money for Stonewall
Story
Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.
I have been lucky enough to secure one of five of Stonewall’s charity places for the London Marathon on the 27th of April 2025. So the fundraising begins and I’m beyond excited!! My goal is to raise £2500 for the amazing work that goes into providing safety and a support network for LGBTQ+ people.
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A little bit about why I applied and what this charity really means for so many LGBTQ+ people like myself… I sent an email to Stonewall a few months ago telling my story which included my ‘Closet to Queer’ timeline and my dream of adding ‘London Marathon 2025 for Stonewall’ to this timeline. This is my story:
The year is 2013 and Cal was used to being kicked in the legs, having posters of his face spread around school saying “ready for gay hookups”, and highlighters being thrown at his head during Geography. Little Cal went home after one torturous day and researched ways to end his life… at the age of just 15. He also typed into Google “is being gay weird?”, and the website that popped up would completely blow his mind. There was a whole community of people who felt like him.”
Cal’s Closet to Queer Timeline so far:
2013 - Cal thought that “Gay” was the worst word to exist.
2013 - Cal’s mum had called the police because of the severity of the bullying
2013 - Cal came across Stonewall
2014 - Cal started therapy
2016 - Cal came out to his friends and family before university
2017 - Cal joined the LGBT society at Uni
2021 - Cal fell in love with a BOY and took him to meet his PARENTS!!
latest addition - 2024 - Cal got a place to run in the London Marathon for Stonewall!!!
So as you can tell 15 year old Cal would never have IMAGINED a world where he was proudly determined to support the LGBTQ+ cause. But here he is 11 years later preparing to run the UKs MOST RECOGNISED MARATHON for Stonewall - the charity that saved his life.”
Two months later, I receive an email to say that Stonewall had their highest number of applications ever and that is truly amazing to say the least. They followed by giving me the result of my application:
We’ve now finished reviewing all applications, and we would love to offer you one of our five Team Stonewall spaces for the 2025 London Marathon!”
I was on the tram surrounded by people and I probably looked like I’d won a million pounds, I could not stop smiling.
And here we are, let’s raise some money!!! I’ve got so many things planned for the coming year to get this amount raised. Anything helps, anything at all, so please donate today!!
Meanwhile, I should start training 🥲
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