Reasons to be cheerful 1.2.3.

Nobody's posted on here for almost a year now. Come on, 2016 wasn't that bad was it?

What's making me happy at the moment? Well, tomorrow I'm joining a lovely friendly bunch of people for a charity walk in the winter sunshine around the beautiful Suffolk countryside.

These walks have been going for the whole of January and were started by a local chap who has was diagnosed with a rare inoperable brain tumor at the end of 2012. After receiving treatment, he decided to do something positive and raise funds for the Brain Tumor Charity while improving his fitness, by going for a walk every day in January.

Each daily walk is in a different place around the local area and he invited people to come along and join him on the walks, calling it the 'Walk and Talk Challenge'. In his own words - "As well as raising money for the charity, the idea behind these walks is to join with like minded people who can make friends, share stories, get fitter, and inspire people to make the best of this life regardless of the hardships we all face. Each walk will end with a nice cuppa and a bit more chat!"

The idea has really taken off locally and people have turned up every day for the walks, regardless of the weather, just for the pleasure of getting out to banish the January blues, make new friends and raise money for a good cause. There is absolutely no pressure or obligation to donate money or obtain sponsorship, people simply donate if they wish to.

I've been on four of the walks so far and I've met some lovely people, made new friends, met some old friends and found it's brightened up my January no end.

 

We're forecast sunny periods tomorrow!

 

@Trunky , sounds lovely. Apart from the sad part of the story about how the walks started, everything else sounds really nice.

My reasons to be cheerful today at least: my efforts to solve the chronic pain in my feet seem to be paying off. I went to martial arts class tonight and performed better than I have in ages. Now I'm about to celebrate with an ice cold bottle of beer and my lovely wife.

 

Just got a Whole house generator all hooked up. so any major storms, and the electric goes out , we are good. And the President I wanted just walked through the White house. And its Friday, have a good bottle of wine. Life is good.

 

Two more enjoyable charity walks this weekend, with a good turn out for both.

Today's turnout was particularly good, with over a hundred people turning up to enjoy a five mile walk in glorious winter sunshine. It really was lovely walking and chatting with friends both old and new while getting plenty of exercise and fresh air.

 

What's making me happy today? Just this...

I joined some lovely friendly people on a couple of charity walks this weekend.

It started as one man and his girlfriend deciding to go for a walk every day in January, to get fit and raise some money for a good cause. They decided to invite people to come and join them on the walks, calling it the 'walk and talk challenge'.

They set themselves a target of raising £1,000 for the Brain Tumor Charity as they've both been affected, in different ways by that illness and it was a cause close to their hearts.

The idea was that anybody could come along for the walks, chat, meet new friends and get some exercise with no obligation to obtain sponsorship or donate money unless they wished.

About a dozen people turned up on New Year's Day for the first walk and the numbers gradually increased as the days went on, a friendly little core of hardy regulars was soon established and others came along and joined in when they could.

By the end of the first week they had already raised £1,500. On some days 40 or 50 people would turn up, on others just a dozen or so. I joined them for the first time halfway through the second week and was instantly struck by the camaraderie and friendly nature of the whole thing.

Come rain or shine, on foggy days, frosty days, whatever the weather, every day people turned up. New friendships were forged, old friendships were renewed, young and old alike walked and chatted and met for a cuppa afterwards.

January can be hard going at times, and a common thread among the walkers was that it provided a motivation and a reason to get outdoors and raise the spirits during what some people find is a difficult time of year.

Gradually the numbers grew. People shared news of the walks with their friends on social media, those who couldn't make it donated online. By the middle of the month £5,000 had been passed.

Last Sunday, for the first time the number of walkers topped 100. Yesterday, there were just 27 of us for a 7 mile walk and spirits were high. The total raised had amazingly topped £10,000. A large country house in the area had offered to host today's walk, the final Sunday walk of the month. There was talk of 200, maybe 300 people turning up.

So again I joined them today, for my eighth walk this month. All the regulars were there, and it was soon apparent that there was a huge turnout. Eventually, we all set off for a pleasant three mile amble around the estate, at one stage I looked around and the line of walkers stretched as far as I could see both behind and in front of us. At the end of the walk, we were told the number of people who had arrived for today's walk ... 540!

The amount raised has now passed £11,000. A lot of people have gained a lot of pleasure from what started as a simple idea. A lot of money has been raised for a good cause. A lot of new friendships have been forged. At a time when we are being bombarded with doom and gloom from many quarters, it is so good to see that at a small, local level, good people are doing good things.

The whole thing has been a thoroughly positive and enjoyable experience. It has been my absolute pleasure to be a very small part of it.

 

Husband was away for a week. yeah.

 

Went to the allotments again this morning, had a good nosey no-one was up there so went back home and wrote up a letter asking for the lottie boss to contact me.. goes back up and I see a bloke on top of the hill, give him a wave and ask is he the boss, no.. is there plots going, yes.. 6!! Had a good chat and got him to show me 2 of the plots, he could see I was really interested and said you like that corner plot don't you, I'll give your letter to the main man and a good word.

 

5 minutes after I posted that I got a phonecall, meeting tomorrow at 11! So frigging excited!!!!!!!

 

Thank you @ARMANDII and will do!!

 

watching super bowl, drinking wine, probably the whole bottle. supper done. dishwasher working . feet up.