Massive Fancy Dress Turnout on Bournemouth Beach in Stevie B's memory
on 18/02/08 by Andy Starmore
Bournemouth beach was awash with Sunday strollers in the glorious sunshine yesterday (February 17) and they were in for a shock come 2pm, with 358 runners practically all in fancy dress lined up at Durley Chine.

The event was in aid of the Steve Bernard Foundation, set up after the tragic passing of 18 year old ‘Stevie B’ as he was effectionally known as, in a car crash in 2005.

The Foundation has gone from strength to strength and up until this six kilometre race from Durley Chine to Boscombe pier and back it had raised a massive £37,000 in just two years.

A few Smurfs took part in this colourful event

The money is distributed to sporting organisations which the Foundation deems worthy of supporting.

This latest event was a huge success and one which Stevie B would have been very proud of, but the day was also a very sad one for Stevie’s brother Jacques and his Mum Sue and Dad Tony, as well as anyone who knew the former Christchurch footballer.

Stevie B would have been 21 on Valentines Day last Thursday and in the past the Foundation has laid on a Valentines Disco, but this year Sue Bernard came up with the idea of a fancy dress fun run along Bournemouth beach, but didn’t envisage such a fantastic response.

“This was an idea of mine one night and I said to Tony I didn’t want to do a disco this year, I wanted to do something different,” said Sue.

“Stevie loved dressing up so I thought about a fancy dress event.

“My vision of this was perhaps a hundred people running along the seafront in Steve’s memory, and it’s escalated to over 350 which is overwhelming.

“We thought 200 would have been brilliant but word got round and people have been phoning up all the time.

“The money has been flowing in as well which is fantastic.

“Originally at Stevie’s funeral we had over £3,000 donated and we didn’t really know what to do with it and we had signed football shirts donated, which is where the idea for the memorial dinner came from.”

Holding back the tears Sue added, “It’s a very very sad day for us and people have been so generous which is a credit to Stevie for how he touched peoples lives.

“I’m sure he’s watching us now and laughing his socks off with all of us making fools of ourselves.

“Jacque’s been brilliant and I’ve got to give credit to Tony, because this has been a mammoth task and he’s succeeded.

“I think Tony deserves a couple of drinks tonight.

“It’s overwhelming to see everyone dressed up and all the different colours.

“It’s very touching for us all.

“And it’s going to be very touching to see the 21 balloons going up at the start of the race.”

One of Stevie’s best mates Craig Matthie, who is very much a big part of the Steve Bernard Foundation, was delighted with the turnout but again the day for him was a sad one.

He said, “Days like these are bitter sweet. You’re doing something to remember Steve by but it’s for an ultimately sad reason and we’re always reminded of that.

“It’s amazing how many people have turned up for this event, and they’re from such a wide range of people as well, it’s not just people who have come to previous events.

“It’s really heartening to know that the Foundation is touching people out there.

“Even people that didn’t know Steve are all helping us to achieve our goals.

“We didn’t expect the Foundation to last as long as it has to be honest.

“But when the amount of friends we’ve made from this which has enabled the Foundation to continue to grow it’s pretty difficult to stop doing it and I can see us doing it for the long haul now.

“Days like these sum up his family and the people around them to see that we’ve all come together to keep his name alive.

“He’s probably looking down at us now and laughing at all these people running along in fancy dress.”

BBC South Today, Fire FM Radio, the Bournemouth Daily Echo and this site were all there to cover the event, and Pitchside will have an extended photo gallery of all the colourful costumes on show on the site shortly.