Alice Reynolds, a final year Physics student at Exeter, and Bristol student Caroline Cardozo will be running the London Marathon later this April in honour of our late headmistress Antonia Beary’s battle with cancer. I myself was in the same year as both Alice and Caroline, and we were all incredibly sad to hear of Miss Beary’s passing in October last year.
Miss Beary (it feels weird to call her Antonia!) was the headmistress of Mayfield School from 2008 up until 2023, and was the life and soul of our school. Caroline described our late headteacher as “incredibly kind, very quick-witted and always ready to help” all of us to perform to the best of our abilities.
Alice and Caroline initially endeavoured to run the London Marathon in an effort to “make Miss Beary laugh”, which I can attest would’ve really amused her. However, due to the unfortunate circumstances they will instead be raising money for Maggie’s, a charity which offers care and support across the UK for those and their loved ones affected by cancer.
they will be raising money for Maggie’s, a charity which offers care and support across the UK for those and their loved ones affected by cancer
The pair have been training hard to achieve this feat. “We are both terrible runners,” they joked, “but are persevering!” Exeter and Bristol are great places to run through, and Alice recently travelled to Cornwall and went for a chilly coastal run down there!
Ultimately, the goal of running the marathon was always just to “make Miss B smile”, Alice describing Antonia as always managing “to make me laugh even when I was going through the hardest challenge”. As Caroline commented, although Miss Beary is no longer with us, “she stays in our thoughts and prayers, and we hope to make her proud”.
If you would like to donate to Alice and Caroline’s marathon for Miss Beary, visit @bestfootforwardforbeary on Instagram and click the link in the bio.
