An Alfreton café manager cried tears of joy when she realised she had raised more than £3,000 for charity by completing the London Marathon.

Julie Bailey ran the London Marathon on Sunday, October 2, in aid of Starlight UK, which uses the power of play to help bring joy to seriously ill children.

Julie, who manages the café at David Nieper factory, had always wanted to take part in the London Marathon and applied to run on behalf of Starlight UK.

Her bid was successful but it meant that she had to raise a minimum of £2,500 for the charity in order to take part.

Julie, who also owns her own cake business, Just Add Candles, set up a JustGiving page and organised a series of fundraising activities.

She said: “Knowing you have got to raise £2,500 can be very stressful on top of the training. Thankfully, I am very, very lucky and work in a place where there are so many people – and people have been so generous.

“I made a crown cake for the Queen’s Jubilee and raffled that off. People bought tickets for that and the company match funded that. There were cake sales across the different sites – all the money was put in one big pot and the company, again, match funded that.

“There was sponsorship to help me raise the funds and, again, the company match funded that. I have been really, really lucky.”

In total, Julie, who also set up fundraising pots at pubs in Shirland, raised £3,218 for Starlight UK.

Asked how she felt when she found out how much she had raised, Julie said: “I cried. You just can’t believe that you’ve got that amount of money from everybody you work with.”

Taking part in the marathon has ignited a new passion for Julie, who confessed that she wasn’t a runner before she started her training earlier in the year.

She said: “Maybe in 2024 I’d do it again. I’m keeping up with the running. I’ve entered a 10k and I’d like to do the Great North Run.”