Why Newquay is filling with ducks for the Teenage Cancer Trust

A short, silly run around Newquay where every runner turns up dressed as a duck. The sillier the better. Behind the feather boas and rubber ducks is a tribute to a young woman who loved them.

The Great Newquay Duck Run

Concho Lounge, one of Newquay’s BID businesses, is hosting the Great Newquay Duck Run as part of its LoungeAid 2026 fundraiser. It is a short and daft run around town with every runner dressed as a duck. It is free for anyone to take part, and the team want as many people as possible waddling through Newquay and acting a little bit silly.

General manager Meg and her team are raising money for the Teenage Cancer Trust. They are doing it in memory of Meg’s twin sister, Rosie.

Why ducks?

Rosie was obsessed with ducks. She carried her faithful companion Darren the rubber duck everywhere she went. So a duck run it is.

Who Rosie was

Rosie was Meg’s identical twin and her best friend. The two grew up doing everything together, swapping classes to confuse their teachers and inventing secret languages as children. As teenagers they volunteered as scout leaders and trained as rock climbing instructors. Rosie loved theatre too, often juggling several shows at once.

She worked at PGL, a children’s activity centre, where she made it her mission to give every child a moment to remember. Abseiling, climbing the highest walls, campfire stories about living on a boat and being raised by pirates. She ran the quizzes, the bingo nights and the murder mystery evenings, and the children adored her.

In April 2023, Rosie broke her femur playing football at work. Scans of the bone found an osteosarcoma, a rare and aggressive form of bone cancer with only around 197 young people diagnosed each year. She was 20, fit and healthy. Rosie died at home on 15 July 2025, surrounded by her family and friends, at the age of 22.

The Teenage Cancer Trust supports young cancer patients aged 13 to 24. It funds and builds specialist units in NHS hospitals so young people are treated by experts who understand them. Meg has said the charity was a lifeline for her family through Rosie’s illness.

How to take part

The Great Newquay Duck Run is on Friday 26 June at 2pm, starting from Concho Lounge. It is completely free. Grab a duck costume, a yellow outfit, a feather boa, a rubber duck, or whatever you can find. The only rule is that the sillier you look, the better.

You can donate to the fundraiser on the Concho Lounge JustGiving page: https://www.justgiving.com/page/concho-lounge-3

To the people who loved her, Rosie’s cancer never defined her, and she will always be the bubbly, adventurous Rosie they knew.

📷Credit: Newquay BID