Residents at Thornton Hall and Lodge complete Run to Anfield!

When participating in a 5km race, you may expect to see a number of different people taking part; marathoners, power walkers or even parents with prams…but would you expect a group of residents aged 75+ from your local care home? Well, the team at Thornton Hall and Lodge Care Home did exactly that, and are now proud champions of Liverpool’s iconic Run to Anfield race!

On Saturday 2^nd August, residents and colleagues at Thornton Hall and Lodge Care Home took on the Run to Anfield challenge; a 5km race from Stanley Park to Anfield Stadium, where they were able to see the pitch used by their favourite team, Liverpool Football Club. 

The idea to participate in the famous race came from Emily, Activities Co-ordinator at the Liverpool care home. “We have a number of residents who are avid Liverpool fans, and others who were runners and love to keep active. When I saw the date had been released for the 2025 race, I put the feelers out to see who would be interested. The response was incredible!”

Harry, Irene, Margie and Jimmy were the lucky residents to take part, and were supported by colleagues Michelle, Emily, Mark, Phil and Molly. With an array of abilities, Emily spent a long time ensuring each resident would be sufficiently supported throughout the entire race by assessing their mobility and ‘pairing’ residents with colleagues on the day, which helped make the day run as smoothly as possible.

Residents at the Crosby care home spent weeks training for the race by walking around the large gardens and building up their endurance, which quickly became their favourite part of the day. The home were also tasked with raising money for the Liverpool FC Foundation, with all proceeds going towards tackling social inequalities in the local community. Raising a whopping £670, the Liverpool care home are currently the 2^nd highest fundraisers for the day – what a fantastic achievement!

On the day of the event, everyone was buzzing with excitement as they approached the starting line, raring to go on their 5km journey. The electric atmosphere made them even more motivated to finish the race, with many fellow participants cheering them on as they progressed. Jimmy, resident at Thornton Hall and Lodge, made sure to reciprocate the gesture by cheering people on and high-fiving participants as they ran past.

Harry, who usually uses a wheelchair, surprised everyone when he get out of his chair (with help from the team) and walked to the finish line – something which he was determined to do. As you can imagine, there wasn’t a dry eye in the stadium! When he entered the grounds, Harry immediately spotted his old seat and shared “It’s there! That’s where my seat is!” in pure excitement.

Jimmy also became emotional when seeing his favourite stadium, and was seen kneeling down on the ground and kissing the turf, saying “It’s me, Jimmy! I told you I’d be back!”. His reaction was so wholesome that Liverpool FC Foundation shared a video of him on Instagram, which has received thousands of likes and comments.

Among the participants was Michelle, Regional Operations Manager at Orchard Care Homes. As a huge Reds fan herself, she was particularly excited to take part. “I’ll never forget the moment our residents walked into the stadium after completing the race. Everyone was teary-eyed and so happy to be back - you could really feel a sense of accomplishment in the air!”

With Liverpool FC’s anthem being ‘You’ll never walk alone’, it seems apt that our residents always have a friendly team member by their side, don’t you think? A huge congrats to everyone who took part, and thank you to Emily and the Thornton team for organising such a memorable day out. 

You can check out our video of the fun-filled day here:

Based in Crosby, Thornton Hall and Lodge Care Home is rated ‘Good’ by CQC and offers residential care, residential dementia care and short-term respite care. Want to know more? Hit the button below or call the Liverpool team on 0151 924 2940!