Latest / The Folkestone & Hythe Sports Podcast / DAVE WALBROOK JOINED ME TO TALK ABOUT HIS 100 KILOMETER WALK RAISING MONEY FOR SOUTH KENT MIND AND WHY HE IS DOING IT.
Transcript
- 0:14Speaker 1: This is Kevin Sports for a daily bringing you the
- 0:16Speaker 1: Folkestone and High Sports Show right here on 105.9 Radio Folkestone.
- 0:25Speaker 1: On today's show we have some sporty new, sporty snippets
- 0:29Speaker 1: I think we call them, about local football and cricket
- 0:32Speaker 1: and our special guest today is Dave Walbrook. Now, Dave
- 0:41Speaker 1: is a trustee for South Kent Mind, and this week
- 0:43Speaker 1: we'll be walking 100 kilometres, that's 62 miles, along the
- 0:47Speaker 1: Thames Towpath, raising money for the charity. So, it's not
- 0:59Speaker 1: quite 500 miles, but what better way is there to
- 1:02Speaker 1: start this Today Show than a song from The Proclaimers.
- 1:08Speaker 2: When I wake up, well, I know I'm going to be,
- 1:11Speaker 2: I'm going to be the man who wakes up next
- 1:13Speaker 2: to you. When I go out, yeah, I know I'm
- 1:18Speaker 2: going to be, I'm going to be the man who
- 1:20Speaker 2: goes along with you. If I get drunk, well, I
- 1:25Speaker 2: know I'm going to be, I'm going to be the man.
- 1:27Speaker 1: Who gets drunk next to you.
- 1:29Speaker 2: And if I haver, yeah, I know I'm going to be,
- 1:33Speaker 2: I'm going to be the man who's havering to you.
- 1:38Speaker 3: So the proclaimers they're not quite 500 miles dave's got
- 1:52Speaker 3: a walk 100k which he just worked out is actually
- 1:57Speaker 3: 62 miles i don't know where he got it from
- 1:59Speaker 3: he thought it was 60 miles so Dave said, oh,
- 2:01Speaker 3: he's just added two miles on my journey.
- 2:03Speaker 1: So anyway, Dave, welcome to the show. And it's really
- 2:06Speaker 1: good that you can make it and just come in
- 2:08Speaker 1: and tell us about your massive challenge that you're undertaking,
- 2:12Speaker 1: raising funds for the charity. So, Dave, tell us briefly
- 2:15Speaker 1: what you're up to at the weekend.
- 2:16Speaker 4: Good afternoon, Kevin. Thank you for inviting me. So what
- 2:19Speaker 4: am I up to at the weekend? Yeah, I'm doing
- 2:20Speaker 4: the Thames Path 100K. There's various different ways you can
- 2:25Speaker 4: do it. You can do it in one go, which is...
- 2:27Speaker 4: My son-in-law's friends are going to try and do it
- 2:30Speaker 4: in 12 or 14 hours. I'm probably a bit old
- 2:32Speaker 4: for that. So I'm doing the Daylight Challenge, which is
- 2:35Speaker 4: 50k on a Saturday, night in a hotel, 50k on
- 2:39Speaker 4: a Sunday.
- 2:41Speaker 1: Sounds a doddle, nothing to it, really. OK, so South
- 2:44Speaker 1: Kent Mind. I mean, do you have an affinity to
- 2:47Speaker 1: this charity? Why South Kent Mind?
- 2:49Speaker 4: Yes, I was privileged to be invited to be a
- 2:51Speaker 4: trustee a couple of years ago. And mental health awareness
- 2:54Speaker 4: and mental health charities are quite close to my heart.
- 2:58Speaker 4: My dad, for instance, when he left the RAF in
- 3:01Speaker 4: the Second World War, left with post-traumatic stress disorder, which
- 3:05Speaker 4: he was only 22 when he was discharged, developed into
- 3:09Speaker 4: paranoid schizophrenia. So as a child, I've seen the examples
- 3:13Speaker 4: of how mental health can affect family life. So, yeah,
- 3:16Speaker 4: if I can make a difference locally with South Kent Mind,
- 3:20Speaker 4: I would do that.
- 3:21Speaker 1: That's right. And it was less tolerant, I think, and
- 3:24Speaker 1: less understanding of mental health in those days, wasn't there?
- 3:27Speaker 4: Well, he was kind of sectioned and sent to a
- 3:28Speaker 4: home and medicated to an inch of his life, almost. Really? Yeah,
- 3:33Speaker 4: so some days he would be perfectly fine, some days
- 3:37Speaker 4: he would be comatose, some days he'd be quite violent.
- 3:40Speaker 1: Yeah, and I mean, Was there any particular incident that
- 3:42Speaker 1: brought this on or was it just a period of
- 3:44Speaker 1: bad luck?
- 3:45Speaker 4: Well, he was involved in a plane crash in India.
- 3:48Speaker 4: He was bombing the Japanese. The plane got hit on
- 3:51Speaker 4: its way back to an airfield just outside Kolkata in
- 3:56Speaker 4: Bengal in northeast India. And the crash landed and he
- 4:00Speaker 4: was the only survivor. He was a gunner at the
- 4:03Speaker 4: top of a Lancaster.
- 4:04Speaker 1: Was he?
- 4:04Speaker 4: So, you know, there are symptoms of survival.
- 4:08Speaker 1: Yeah, the guilt, survivor's guilt.
- 4:12Speaker 4: Which probably led into post-traumatic stress disorder. And it kind
- 4:15Speaker 4: of altered also the poverty he saw out there as well.
- 4:18Speaker 4: A lot of things that he saw there changed the
- 4:20Speaker 4: whole course of his life.
- 4:21Speaker 1: Yeah, different days, different days. I mean, the youngsters really
- 4:24Speaker 1: just don't know what that generation went through, do they? OK,
- 4:27Speaker 1: so Dave, tell us a little bit about yourself. I mean,
- 4:30Speaker 1: do you like sport? Was you good at sport at school?
- 4:32Speaker 1: What got you into it?
- 4:33Speaker 4: I like sport. I wouldn't consider myself good at sport,
- 4:36Speaker 4: but I'll have a go at anything. So, yeah, at school,
- 4:41Speaker 4: I kind of fell into running. In the spring term,
- 4:44Speaker 4: you had a choice of playing rugby or hockey. So
- 4:47Speaker 4: I chose rugby, hockey. Oh, there was cross-country running as well.
- 4:50Speaker 4: I didn't fancy that. Anyway, my first game of hockey,
- 4:53Speaker 4: I got hit in the head by a hockey stick
- 4:54Speaker 4: and got knocked out.
- 4:55Speaker 1: And you haven't been the same since.
- 4:57Speaker 4: So I thought, I don't like this luck. So I
- 4:59Speaker 4: switched to cross-country running.
- 5:01Speaker 2: Right.
- 5:01Speaker 4: And I haven't really looked back. So that was when
- 5:03Speaker 4: I was 12 or 13. So that's a long time ago.
- 5:07Speaker 1: It's funny because most people at that age, cross-country running, it's,
- 5:11Speaker 1: oh no, hate it. You know, we'll sooner play football
- 5:14Speaker 1: or hockey, yeah. But yeah, I can see where you're
- 5:16Speaker 1: coming from. So did that love of running stay with you?
- 5:21Speaker 4: It has done, yeah, in various forms. I saw the
- 5:25Speaker 4: London Marathon when I was 21, when the first London
- 5:27Speaker 4: Marathon was in 1981, kept applying. there was very draconian
- 5:33Speaker 4: ways of getting into it. You had to queue around
- 5:35Speaker 4: a post office. There was a number of post offices
- 5:38Speaker 4: around the country, and it's the first 180 entries in
- 5:40Speaker 4: each post box. So I've queued outside post boxes before
- 5:44Speaker 4: the instigation of the internet and technology failed miserably. So
- 5:49Speaker 4: I wrote to Chris Bracia directly in 1990, and I
- 5:53Speaker 4: got a place.
- 5:54Speaker 1: Really?
- 5:54Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 5:55Speaker 1: Oh, that is amazing. Yeah, you can't even get.
- 5:57Speaker 4: And I've done 13 since... 13 marathons? 13 marathons since then, yeah. Oh, great, yeah.
- 6:02Speaker 1: And um you obviously done one london did you go
- 6:05Speaker 1: on to do.
- 6:05Speaker 4: More yeah i did seven in london yeah i've done
- 6:08Speaker 4: new york cape town berlin dublin paris.
- 6:12Speaker 1: Prague wow brilliant yeah a bit of a global.
- 6:15Speaker 4: Yeah yeah excellent fantastic no more though i'm done.
- 6:19Speaker 1: That's enough yeah uh you're right i mean i did
- 6:22Speaker 1: three and that was enough but the time consuming you
- 6:25Speaker 1: know it's um And sometimes it's not fair on your
- 6:27Speaker 1: loved ones, is it? That's right. You come home, you've
- 6:30Speaker 1: got the ump, you want to just put your feet up.
- 6:32Speaker 1: You don't want to speak to anyone. Oh, dear. Okay,
- 6:38Speaker 1: so I do believe you told me off-air that, besides
- 6:43Speaker 1: running London, that you've marshalled as well.
- 6:46Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah. I like to give back. to the efforts
- 6:51Speaker 4: of the people so yeah I was at Shadwell Fire
- 6:55Speaker 4: Station so that's one of the main marshalling points and
- 6:59Speaker 4: I organised the halfway marshalling which is quite important for
- 7:03Speaker 4: the Paralympic for the runners because some of the sighted
- 7:09Speaker 4: guides need to be switched at halfway because the runners
- 7:13Speaker 4: are quicker than their guides. So they actually change guides.
- 7:16Speaker 4: So I used to coordinate that at halfway.
- 7:19Speaker 1: Was that for any particular charity?
- 7:20Speaker 4: No, no, it's just purely for the event. Yeah, yeah.
- 7:24Speaker 4: For the event.
- 7:24Speaker 1: Yeah, that's great. Looking back though, you've done quite a
- 7:30Speaker 1: bit really. And was there any other sports you took up?
- 7:33Speaker 4: I did a few triathlons. My son was born in
- 7:37Speaker 4: 1992 and he was having swimming lessons. a friend's pool
- 7:42Speaker 4: and I realized after a few lessons he could actually
- 7:45Speaker 4: swim better than me he was only about four or
- 7:47Speaker 4: five years old so I stuck my hand up and
- 7:50Speaker 4: asked the trainer the coach I said can I jump
- 7:53Speaker 4: in as well I said because he is swimming better
- 7:55Speaker 4: than me so we learned together and then within a
- 7:59Speaker 4: couple of years I started doing triathlons which is what
- 8:02Speaker 4: I always wanted to do but the swim was the
- 8:04Speaker 4: Hard bit. Was it?
- 8:05Speaker 1: Yeah. And do you still swim or do triathlons?
- 8:08Speaker 4: No, I've stopped that as well. My hips. I'm not
- 8:10Speaker 4: sure how my hips are going to stand up at
- 8:12Speaker 4: the weekend, but I think running and triathlons are things
- 8:16Speaker 4: of the past.
- 8:17Speaker 1: Okay. Well, we'll come on to the actual walk a
- 8:19Speaker 1: little bit later on in the show, but we still
- 8:21Speaker 1: want to stick with you and what you've done in
- 8:23Speaker 1: your career. It sounds like you've done loads and loads,
- 8:26Speaker 1: but you are also involved in parkruns, aren't you?
- 8:29Speaker 4: Yes. I love it. Yeah. My poor old wife, whenever
- 8:32Speaker 4: we go anywhere, if we're somewhere on a Saturday morning,
- 8:35Speaker 4: I've got the phone out, got the app out. Where
- 8:38Speaker 4: is the nearest partner?
- 8:39Speaker 1: Yeah.
- 8:39Speaker 4: Yeah. And she knows that we will not miss one.
- 8:42Speaker 4: So I'm a bit of an addict.
- 8:43Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 8:44Speaker 4: Wherever we are in the world. Um, I was invited
- 8:46Speaker 4: to be the event director at Folkestone, uh, beginning of
- 8:49Speaker 4: this year, which I absolutely love. And that's another opportunity
- 8:52Speaker 4: to give back. You know, I've been doing this now
- 8:54Speaker 4: for 12 years running, um, and, uh, to do stuff
- 8:58Speaker 4: behind the scene and enjoy the, not only to enjoy
- 9:02Speaker 4: the event, to increase the enjoyment of other people.
- 9:04Speaker 3: Yeah.
- 9:05Speaker 4: Because it's more than a run, it's a community.
- 9:07Speaker 1: You're so right. It's brought so much joy to so
- 9:10Speaker 1: many people, hasn't it? You know, and even if you're
- 9:12Speaker 1: not running or just volunteering, it's.
- 9:15Speaker 4: A lot of people that show up, turn up early,
- 9:17Speaker 4: stay late, and you may be the only person they've
- 9:20Speaker 4: spoken to for quite a few days. So it's very important. Yeah.
- 9:22Speaker 4: Very important.
- 9:23Speaker 1: I think it must be really tough if your park
- 9:27Speaker 1: run is cancelled for one. or one reason or another,
- 9:31Speaker 1: and you've got to wait another week, you know, it's
- 9:33Speaker 1: like you're fixed, isn't it, really?
- 9:34Speaker 4: We try not to. I've had to cancel one this
- 9:37Speaker 4: year because of.
- 9:39Speaker 1: The weather, was it?
- 9:39Speaker 4: No, it was Army Day on the Lees.
- 9:41Speaker 1: Oh, yeah, that's right. Sometimes they have something on the Lees, yeah.
- 9:44Speaker 4: But, I mean, we've got one down the road in Dover,
- 9:46Speaker 4: which is a great event. Another one in Deer. We've
- 9:48Speaker 4: got Canterbury, Ashford. So you don't have to go far
- 9:51Speaker 4: on the bus or train or drive. Oh, great. And
- 9:54Speaker 4: there's potentially a new one in Canberra.
- 9:56Speaker 1: In Canberra?
- 9:57Speaker 4: In planning, yeah.
- 9:58Speaker 1: Right. Oh, that'd be nice and flat. Oh, yeah. And
- 10:01Speaker 1: thinking of Canberra, I think of the beach. And I
- 10:04Speaker 1: do know there is actually a park run in Yarmouth
- 10:07Speaker 1: that's actually on the beach, all of it, you know.
- 10:10Speaker 1: And the times, you look at the times, they're so
- 10:12Speaker 1: slow compared to, like, tarmac park runs that.
- 10:17Speaker 4: I was actually one of my bucket list was to
- 10:20Speaker 4: go to the Indianapolis 500 which I did in May
- 10:23Speaker 4: and there was a group who was chatting in a
- 10:24Speaker 4: bar and the event director for the Great Yarmouth Park
- 10:28Speaker 4: run we were in the same group so yeah we
- 10:31Speaker 4: kind of hit it off but I think it is
- 10:32Speaker 4: known as one of the hardest runs.
- 10:35Speaker 1: I remember in my youth when I was playing football
- 10:40Speaker 1: down at Hive we used to end up on the
- 10:42Speaker 1: beach doing sprints up on the beach there Oh, my word.
- 10:46Speaker 4: The sand sucks the energy out. And the stones, yeah, yeah.
- 10:50Speaker 1: OK, so we're going to have a little break now.
- 10:52Speaker 1: We've got a couple of songs coming up, Dave, and
- 10:55Speaker 1: these songs are special to you. So tell us about
- 10:59Speaker 1: your first one.
- 11:01Speaker 4: That's Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen. As a teenager
- 11:06Speaker 4: in my study at school, listening to Radio Caroline, this
- 11:10Speaker 4: was played quite a lot, and when it came on,
- 11:13Speaker 4: We probably had a couple of minutes before we get
- 11:15Speaker 4: told off, so it would go up full volume around
- 11:18Speaker 4: the whole study area before somebody banged on the door.
- 11:22Speaker 4: But we could get away with a bit of air
- 11:23Speaker 4: guitar standing on the tables. So much energy in this song.
- 11:28Speaker 4: I absolutely love it.
- 11:29Speaker 1: Great. OK, so let's turn it up loud. All you
- 11:32Speaker 1: out there in Radio Folkestone land, this is Bruce Springsteen
- 11:35Speaker 1: and Born to Run. Wow, born to run there, Bruce Springsteen. God,
- 12:08Speaker 1: me and Dave were banging away at our air guitars there.
- 12:12Speaker 1: The noise, we had people banging on the door, just
- 12:14Speaker 1: reminded Dave of his student days. Okay, so I really
- 12:18Speaker 1: want to get this done as it's the cricket, as
- 12:21Speaker 1: it was the local cricket season. It kind of came
- 12:24Speaker 1: to an end last Saturday. So here's a quick roundup
- 12:26Speaker 1: of how our teams finished up in their respective divisions.
- 12:30Speaker 1: Folkestone 1st XI beat Dartford by 4 wickets, ending up
- 12:34Speaker 1: in 8th position out of 10, so remain in the
- 12:37Speaker 1: championship next season. In Division 6, Folkestone 2nd XI beat
- 12:42Speaker 1: Nornington by 78 runs. They finished 6th out of 10.
- 12:46Speaker 1: The 3rd XI, and that's in Division 10, they gained
- 12:52Speaker 1: maximum points as St Lawrence and Highland Court, actually, sadly really,
- 12:55Speaker 1: if you like, conceded. They didn't turn up or they
- 12:58Speaker 1: couldn't get enough players out. However, the third team had
- 13:01Speaker 1: a great season finishing top, top of the league, so
- 13:04Speaker 1: well done to the thirds. The fourth XI play in
- 13:06Speaker 1: Division XI. They lost to Sibton Park's second XI by
- 13:10Speaker 1: nine wickets, finishing eighth out of nine. But they might
- 13:13Speaker 1: have escaped relegation as it looks like there's only one
- 13:16Speaker 1: club going down. The fifth XI play in Division XII.
- 13:21Speaker 1: They lost by 154 runs to South Canterbury and they
- 13:25Speaker 1: finished eighth out of nine. But there was no relegation
- 13:29Speaker 1: marked up on the league, so we don't know what's
- 13:31Speaker 1: going to happen there. Switching over to Hawkins now. They
- 13:34Speaker 1: beat Broadstairs by 169 runs, ending up in third position.
- 13:39Speaker 1: Whereas rivals Hive, they beat Sandwich by six wickets. They
- 13:42Speaker 1: ended up second and gained promotion for the third year running.
- 13:46Speaker 1: So what a great achievement that is. So well done
- 13:49Speaker 1: to Hive there. Both teams playing in Division 7. In
- 13:53Speaker 1: Division 9, Hive Green beat Neighbours Saltwood by 7 wickets,
- 13:57Speaker 1: their season ending up with Hive Green 4th and Saltwood 5th.
- 14:02Speaker 1: And finally, Sipton Park, 1st XI, beat Addington by 2 wickets,
- 14:06Speaker 1: so ending their season in 3rd place in Division 5. So, recapping,
- 14:11Speaker 1: notable performances, Folkestone 3rds, they won their league, well done fellas,
- 14:15Speaker 1: and Hive finished 2nd, gaining promotion. Now, promotion and relegation positions, well,
- 14:21Speaker 1: they might change, that's what it is, how it stands...
- 14:24Speaker 1: at the moment, on paper. But certainly relegation and possibly
- 14:27Speaker 1: promotion positions might change, only as some teams fold and
- 14:32Speaker 1: some teams might be kind of on the geographical edge
- 14:36Speaker 1: of an area, so they might go into another league
- 14:39Speaker 1: apart from the Kent League. But it's been a steady
- 14:41Speaker 1: old season. The weather's been great, hasn't it, for cricket?
- 14:44Speaker 1: There was only one game called off, I think, and
- 14:46Speaker 1: that was a couple of weeks ago when we had
- 14:48Speaker 1: that downpour on a Saturday. It just soaked everybody. So
- 14:53Speaker 1: football now, well, Folkestone Invicta's unbeaten run came to an
- 14:56Speaker 1: end in Torquay when they lost 3-2, but by all accounts,
- 14:59Speaker 1: it was a game of two halves. Torquay with the
- 15:02Speaker 1: upper hand going 2-0 up at half-time. Folkestone pulled back
- 15:07Speaker 1: to 2-2, but switched off with just seven minutes to go,
- 15:10Speaker 1: conceding a late goal after dominating the second half. Tuesday evening,
- 15:14Speaker 1: it was back to Cheriton Road where they drew 1-0
- 15:17Speaker 1: with Horsham, leaving them in sixth position, so still a
- 15:20Speaker 1: promising start. It's home again on Saturday against Farnham Town,
- 15:25Speaker 1: who travel down from Surrey. Now the big match, FA Cup,
- 15:29Speaker 1: second qualifying round, September the 19th, is an away game
- 15:33Speaker 1: against Dover. Folkestone versus Dover in the Cup. Do you
- 15:37Speaker 1: think it'll be on telly? That'd be good, wouldn't it?
- 15:39Speaker 4: It'd be great.
- 15:41Speaker 1: So that's a match to look forward to. Moving on
- 15:44Speaker 1: to Hive now. Hive Town continued their unbeaten run with
- 15:46Speaker 1: a 1-0 away victory at Greenways, which is in Gravesend.
- 15:51Speaker 1: And then on Sunday, yes, Sunday, they're in the second
- 15:54Speaker 1: qualifying round of the FA Vars and have been drawn
- 15:57Speaker 1: against a team called Wick FC, who travel from Littlehampton. Now,
- 16:01Speaker 1: there's not much coming out of Hive Town social media-wise,
- 16:04Speaker 1: but I did read that this game is actually Sunday
- 16:07Speaker 1: at the Alkaline Stadium. So before you travel, please just
- 16:10Speaker 1: do me a little favour and just double-check that. Meanwhile,
- 16:14Speaker 1: in the NRG Kent County League, Hawkins on Saturday beat
- 16:17Speaker 1: sporting club Thamesmead 4-2 and go again on this Saturday
- 16:21Speaker 1: in the Kent Intermediate Challenge Shield against the Bocca Juniors
- 16:25Speaker 1: from Division 1. New Romney didn't have a game last week,
- 16:28Speaker 1: but returned to league action at home to a long-lane
- 16:31Speaker 1: FC from Greenwich. So there, that's the cricket and the football,
- 16:36Speaker 1: which I really wanted to squeeze in. But we're back
- 16:39Speaker 1: in the studio with Dave now. Dave, how are we doing?
- 16:41Speaker 1: Did you enjoy Born to Run?
- 16:42Speaker 4: Oh, I loved it. It brings me out in goosebumps,
- 16:45Speaker 4: jumping up and down on my desk.
- 16:49Speaker 1: I told you, there's this guy banging on the window
- 16:51Speaker 1: telling you to keep the noise down.
- 16:53Speaker 2: Right.
- 16:54Speaker 1: OK, so we're talking about South Kent Mines. You've got
- 16:57Speaker 1: this massive challenge. We are going to talk about it
- 17:01Speaker 1: in much more depth a little bit later on in
- 17:04Speaker 1: the show. But South Kent Mine, they've got lots going on,
- 17:07Speaker 1: which sometimes I think goes a little bit under the radar.
- 17:09Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 17:10Speaker 1: I mean, it's your soapbox now, Dave, to tell us
- 17:12Speaker 1: about South Kent Mine, what they do, their events and
- 17:14Speaker 1: so on.
- 17:14Speaker 4: Yeah, thank you.
- 17:15Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah.
- 17:16Speaker 4: South Kent Mine is a local independent charity. Geographically, we
- 17:20Speaker 4: operate all the way from Sandwich down to Dungeness. And
- 17:23Speaker 4: it's entirely funded by donations and grant. And every pound
- 17:27Speaker 4: that's raised stays local. You know, our aims and mission
- 17:31Speaker 4: are simple. It's to ensure that no one has to
- 17:33Speaker 4: face mental health problems alone. And it's also to provide
- 17:37Speaker 4: early intervention and promote positive attitudes towards mental health while
- 17:41Speaker 4: supporting mental well-being. You know, there is a great bunch
- 17:44Speaker 4: of people there whose purpose is real dedication towards this. Like,
- 17:50Speaker 4: for instance, in 2025, around 2,000 adults were supported locally
- 17:54Speaker 4: and nearly 200 children were supported through school and workshops.
- 17:58Speaker 4: And for the activities that we do on a regular basis...
- 18:02Speaker 4: There are trips to Goddenston Park, Chatty Monday in Folkestone,
- 18:08Speaker 4: walks and talks, cooking on a budget. They do mental
- 18:13Speaker 4: mindfulness and chair yoga and things like that. Yeah, so
- 18:19Speaker 4: also counselling. South Kent offers both fast track and low
- 18:24Speaker 4: cost counselling. And if anybody does feel the need that
- 18:27Speaker 4: they want to be referred for that, they can look
- 18:29Speaker 4: on the website at southkentmind.org.uk. or call 01303 250090. With
- 18:36Speaker 4: regard to fundraising events, coming up, we've got the Coastal
- 18:46Speaker 4: Sunrise Walk of Hope for Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, which
- 18:50Speaker 4: is this month. That's on Sunday the 20th. Now, while
- 18:53Speaker 4: we're talking about suicide, suicide is the single leading cause
- 18:57Speaker 4: of death for men under 50 in the UK.
- 18:59Speaker 1: Well, that's a shock, isn't it? That's a shock statistic,
- 19:02Speaker 1: so I didn't realise it was sober.
- 19:04Speaker 4: You know, we hear a lot about cancer and things
- 19:07Speaker 4: like that. There's some awful stuff out there.
- 19:08Speaker 1: So tell us again about this walk. What is it?
- 19:12Speaker 1: Where do you start?
- 19:13Speaker 4: We start from Battery Point at dawn, which I think
- 19:16Speaker 4: on the 20th is like quarter to seven in the morning.
- 19:19Speaker 3: Right.
- 19:19Speaker 4: And then we walk towards the sunrise at Folkestone Harbour. Ah, right.
- 19:22Speaker 4: Finish with a cup of coffee at the bottom of
- 19:25Speaker 4: Tontine Street.
- 19:26Speaker 2: Ah.
- 19:26Speaker 4: So, yeah, it's all there. You know, we have a
- 19:30Speaker 4: very good chat about what we're doing. and it's a
- 19:34Speaker 4: very important thing.
- 19:35Speaker 1: Is that a new thing? They did it last year,
- 19:36Speaker 1: didn't they?
- 19:37Speaker 4: The second year we've done it, yeah. The second year.
- 19:38Speaker 1: Did you do it last year?
- 19:39Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah.
- 19:40Speaker 1: Are you doing it this year? Yeah.
- 19:41Speaker 4: And then went off and volunteered for my park run afterwards,
- 19:45Speaker 4: so it was a long day. Oh, boy, yeah.
- 19:47Speaker 1: Cool, Saturday morning, yeah.
- 19:49Speaker 4: Another event we've got on Sunday the 4th of October,
- 19:52Speaker 4: we've got Pause for Mind, a sponsored dog walk that's
- 19:54Speaker 4: in deal. Now, the big thing down at the Sea
- 19:58Speaker 4: Scrub Sauna in Folkestone on World Mental Health Day, which
- 20:01Speaker 4: is Saturday the 10th of October, there's a fire walk,
- 20:04Speaker 4: which I did last year. Did you?
- 20:06Speaker 1: Up at the three hills?
- 20:07Speaker 4: Which was terrifying. But if you do it the right way,
- 20:09Speaker 4: it's not as bad as you think. So there's a
- 20:12Speaker 4: big collaboration with Sea Scrub Sauna for mental well-being experience.
- 20:17Speaker 4: You can walk across the coals. And then if you
- 20:19Speaker 4: do take part in the event, you can use the
- 20:21Speaker 4: sauna and cold plunge pools.
- 20:23Speaker 1: Did that.
- 20:25Speaker 1: The fire walk, before you did it last year, do
- 20:29Speaker 1: you get anybody, like a briefing, you know, and they
- 20:34Speaker 1: kind of motivate you?
- 20:35Speaker 4: It's really important. You are walking over red-hot coals, but
- 20:38Speaker 4: there is a technique and there is a number of
- 20:41Speaker 4: steps that.
- 20:43Speaker 4: If you walk multiple steps, it then starts to burn.
- 20:46Speaker 4: But yeah, we had a very professional briefing in the
- 20:50Speaker 4: Three Hills last year. And no casualties, no burns. Everybody's
- 20:54Speaker 4: feet were intact at the end of it. And it
- 20:56Speaker 4: was great fun.
- 20:57Speaker 1: I saw it done once here. I went down, I
- 20:59Speaker 1: was volunteering. I didn't do it myself, but I was
- 21:01Speaker 1: volunteering for, I don't know, another radio station. I think
- 21:04Speaker 1: it was KMFM. And everyone that was doing it kind
- 21:08Speaker 1: of went into this room. And we saw this chap
- 21:11Speaker 1: through the window. talking to him. And he got them
- 21:15Speaker 1: so fired up, they all come out punching, yeah, we
- 21:18Speaker 1: can do it, bring it on, you know. So it's
- 21:20Speaker 1: just given you that amount of confidence there.
- 21:22Speaker 4: The guy that gave us the talk last year, I
- 21:24Speaker 4: think he's a Guinness Book of World Record holder for
- 21:26Speaker 4: the longest fire walk. I think he did something like
- 21:29Speaker 4: 100 metres.
- 21:30Speaker 1: Oh, dear.
- 21:31Speaker 4: And he did it, but what he didn't tell us
- 21:33Speaker 4: was the state of his feet after.
- 21:35Speaker 1: 100 metres walking on red hot coals.
- 21:37Speaker 4: Yeah. But he did it.
- 21:38Speaker 1: Good.
- 21:40Speaker 4: And then we've got a big event, the third year
- 21:42Speaker 4: of the Mental Elf Run on the Lees by the
- 21:44Speaker 4: bandstand on Sunday the 6th of December. We had around
- 21:49Speaker 4: 300 people last year, hoping for another good turnout. The
- 21:53Speaker 4: weather has been against us the last two years.
- 21:55Speaker 1: You're right, you're right, yeah.
- 21:56Speaker 4: The weather gods have got to be good this year.
- 21:58Speaker 1: I don't mind, actually, because I'm on the bandstand and
- 22:00Speaker 1: I don't get wet at all.
- 22:01Speaker 4: Yeah, it was a great turnout. It's great fun. Everybody
- 22:04Speaker 4: dresses up.
- 22:05Speaker 1: It was a good turnout, actually. And I will say
- 22:08Speaker 1: that I've been speaking to her recently that Julie Gibbs,
- 22:11Speaker 1: our warm-up lady, is raring to go again. So there'll
- 22:13Speaker 1: be a little warm-up to get you in the mood.
- 22:16Speaker 1: And I'll be there dressed up as Father Christmas on
- 22:18Speaker 1: the bandstand.
- 22:19Speaker 4: Yeah, so we'll establish that as a regular thing in
- 22:21Speaker 4: the calendar around the first Sunday in December.
- 22:24Speaker 1: Do you know if there's other mental health runs around?
- 22:28Speaker 2: Yes.
- 22:28Speaker 1: Are we just privileged to?
- 22:30Speaker 4: Because the local area mines, there are other ones in Kent.
- 22:35Speaker 4: Are there?
- 22:35Speaker 1: I've never really looked to see, actually.
- 22:37Speaker 4: But not on the same day.
- 22:38Speaker 1: No, no.
- 22:39Speaker 4: We tend not to clash, but there are other mental
- 22:41Speaker 4: health runs around the area. And again, if you do,
- 22:46Speaker 4: as I said earlier, if you know... if you or
- 22:48Speaker 4: someone could benefit from South Kent mine's mental health support,
- 22:52Speaker 4: please visit the website, southkentmine.org.uk or call 0 1 3
- 22:58Speaker 4: 0 3 2 5 0 0 9 0.
- 23:01Speaker 1: Right. Okay. So, um, well, I think it's time for
- 23:04Speaker 1: a little second song now, Dave, you've chosen. So obviously
- 23:07Speaker 1: this is another one special to you. So tell us
- 23:09Speaker 1: a story about this one.
- 23:11Speaker 4: Uh, this is Brian Adams. Everything I do, I do
- 23:13Speaker 4: it for you. Um, my little girl, Chloe, she was
- 23:16Speaker 4: born in 1989. Uh, And she's around 18 months old,
- 23:20Speaker 4: and this was in the charts forever. I think it
- 23:23Speaker 4: was about 17 weeks. I think it's only recently been overtaken,
- 23:26Speaker 4: I think. So I used to pick her up and
- 23:30Speaker 4: sing this to her. And it means a lot when
- 23:33Speaker 4: we hear this, even now. And, you know, she's a
- 23:35Speaker 4: grown-up lady in her late 30s now. She's just had
- 23:38Speaker 4: her fourth child. But it's still a very special song
- 23:43Speaker 4: for us.
- 23:44Speaker 1: Okay, so let's sit back and listen to this lovely
- 23:47Speaker 1: song from Brian Adams.
- 24:03Speaker 2: Look into my eyes You will see What you mean
- 24:12Speaker 2: to me.
- 24:16Speaker 1: I'd die for you You know it's true.
- 24:26Speaker 2: Everything I do.
- 24:29Speaker 1: Oh So there we go. That was Brian Adams there.
- 24:43Speaker 1: And I didn't realize how long that song was. He's
- 24:46Speaker 1: still singing in the background. But Dave and I were
- 24:49Speaker 1: chatting off air about loads of things. And I don't know.
- 24:55Speaker 1: This is a great sports show, but it's great to
- 24:57Speaker 1: have a chat about general things. And we were talking about,
- 25:00Speaker 1: and it's to do with mental health. is about retirement
- 25:05Speaker 1: and things that happened in COVID. You know, COVID was
- 25:07Speaker 1: a tough time for most people. A lot of people
- 25:12Speaker 1: coped quite well. From my own personal point of view,
- 25:16Speaker 1: I was okay. I had lots to keep me busy.
- 25:18Speaker 1: In fact, I'll just remind you, on the radio side
- 25:21Speaker 1: of things, we weren't allowed guests into the studio. So
- 25:25Speaker 1: I thought, what am I going to do? So I
- 25:27Speaker 1: actually did an A to Z of local sport to
- 25:30Speaker 1: find out what people were doing. And it took me
- 25:33Speaker 1: all around the area. And I'd just try and get
- 25:36Speaker 1: people on the phone to talk about what they were doing,
- 25:38Speaker 1: what their clubs were doing, how they were coping, things
- 25:41Speaker 1: like that. But Dave, your experience in COVID, how did
- 25:44Speaker 1: you find that? What stage of the life were you?
- 25:47Speaker 1: Because you're retired now.
- 25:49Speaker 4: Yeah, I packed up full-time work in 2019 when I
- 25:52Speaker 4: was 59. Didn't really know what retirement was. I was
- 25:56Speaker 4: always thinking about the finances. We had enough money to retire.
- 25:59Speaker 4: We stopped. And then on the very first day, my
- 26:03Speaker 4: wife and I, Susan, what are we going to do?
- 26:05Speaker 4: What is this retirement? I don't have to go to
- 26:07Speaker 4: work today. So we went to Whitstable for the day.
- 26:10Speaker 4: And I thought, is this retirement? I didn't really get it.
- 26:14Speaker 4: And over a period of time, I realised that it
- 26:18Speaker 4: is quite tough to suddenly decide what you do seven
- 26:21Speaker 4: days a week, where you've probably been told what to do.
- 26:25Speaker 4: It can be quite tough. So over a period of time,
- 26:29Speaker 4: as we went into the lockdown the following year, I
- 26:32Speaker 4: studied a coaching qualification accreditation and set up a coaching practice,
- 26:37Speaker 4: helping people to find their purpose in retirement. And also,
- 26:42Speaker 4: excuse me, midlifers who inadvertently have found themselves out of
- 26:47Speaker 4: work in their 50s and adjust to another job. or retirement.
- 26:54Speaker 4: And it's helping people find their purpose. I suggest nothing.
- 26:57Speaker 4: It's all their ideas. We're all different. We all get
- 26:59Speaker 4: out of bed for different, different reasons. And it's all
- 27:02Speaker 4: about finding your purpose. And, you know, the things that
- 27:04Speaker 4: you and I have just been talking about, um, with
- 27:07Speaker 4: the part run, uh, with this walk and other stuff
- 27:09Speaker 4: that I do, I've kind of, I've, I've never been so.
- 27:13Speaker 1: It's like working, isn't it? It's like working and achieving,
- 27:17Speaker 1: you know, things inwardly for yourself, isn't it?
- 27:19Speaker 4: I do some stuff for free. Uh, I'm, part of
- 27:22Speaker 4: our residence uh company where i live and other stuff
- 27:25Speaker 4: that i do other stuff i get paid for but
- 27:28Speaker 4: i look at it as a little tap that i
- 27:29Speaker 4: can turn on and off when i choose and i'm
- 27:32Speaker 4: absolutely loving life yeah loving.
- 27:33Speaker 1: It good for you because covid was um as you
- 27:36Speaker 1: say i mean down here we could go for a
- 27:38Speaker 1: walk for an hour a day or whatever it was
- 27:40Speaker 1: everyone milked it i know but uh you imagine stuck
- 27:43Speaker 1: in a high-rise flat in hackney or somewhere like that
- 27:46Speaker 1: and you couldn't go out you know it must have
- 27:48Speaker 1: driven them up the wall wasn't it.
- 27:50Speaker 4: We were blessed i mean the from what I remember,
- 27:52Speaker 4: it was a really good weather from that.
- 27:53Speaker 1: Oh, it was a fabulous, fabulous year, yeah.
- 27:55Speaker 4: So I used to jump on my bike, put some
- 27:58Speaker 4: drinks and a picnic in my rucksack and I'd cycle
- 28:00Speaker 4: to Rye by myself.
- 28:02Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah.
- 28:02Speaker 4: There's nothing, nobody, nowhere was open. There were no cars
- 28:05Speaker 4: on the road.
- 28:05Speaker 1: Oh, that was great.
- 28:06Speaker 4: Nobody trying to kill you.
- 28:08Speaker 1: You didn't have to look left and right to cross
- 28:09Speaker 1: the road.
- 28:09Speaker 4: It was very safe and it was a joy to
- 28:11Speaker 4: go out cycling and there was hardly anybody out going
- 28:14Speaker 4: to sit on Canberra seafront, have my picnic and cycle
- 28:17Speaker 4: home and that was, that filled the day. Yeah, yeah.
- 28:20Speaker 1: Everyone come down to the same sort of level, same calm,
- 28:25Speaker 1: smooth level. It was just, it was always scary to
- 28:28Speaker 1: know that it would go back to what it was,
- 28:29Speaker 1: you know. I mean, they did say, I mean, you might,
- 28:31Speaker 1: I don't know if you was around in the, I
- 28:33Speaker 1: don't know if you was around, but, um, I remember
- 28:36Speaker 1: speaking to volunteers at the 2012 Olympics and they said
- 28:39Speaker 1: the same sort of effect was everyone was friendly, polite and, uh,
- 28:45Speaker 1: you know, just happy and, um, And these volunteers at
- 28:50Speaker 1: 2012 have got such a buzz out of helping other people.
- 28:52Speaker 4: I was a games maker. I was a games maker
- 28:54Speaker 4: in the village in 2012. And there was a vibe,
- 28:59Speaker 4: a buzz. It's bringing me out in goosebumps talking about it.
- 29:02Speaker 4: I went in on extra days. We were organising the
- 29:05Speaker 4: official cars for the various athletes and doing the transportation
- 29:09Speaker 4: to and from the village out to the locations of
- 29:12Speaker 4: the events. And... You know, the kind of people, I
- 29:15Speaker 4: was sitting having a chat with the Archbishop of Canterbury
- 29:17Speaker 4: and then Boris Johnson would turn up. And all these
- 29:21Speaker 4: other people, the Prime Minister of Turkey and just getting
- 29:24Speaker 4: them a car. And it was just really odd, but amazing.
- 29:28Speaker 4: But especially the Paralympics, that changed my whole outlook on
- 29:33Speaker 4: disabled sport. And also on my, I worked at the
- 29:36Speaker 4: Home Office at the time, and accessibility it um i
- 29:41Speaker 4: set up a program of accessibility it which was a
- 29:45Speaker 4: bit flaky at the time and and the the people
- 29:48Speaker 4: that the paralympics are absolutely amazing what they can do
- 29:52Speaker 4: it's not what they can't it's what they can.
- 29:54Speaker 1: Do i know amazing Last week we had a guest in.
- 29:57Speaker 1: We started off talking about table tennis, which is what
- 29:59Speaker 1: he was, the sport. But the previous week I'd been
- 30:03Speaker 1: doing a bit of research and I clicked on to
- 30:06Speaker 1: Paralympic table tennis. And there was guys with one arm
- 30:10Speaker 1: playing against guys with one leg on a crutch, you know.
- 30:14Speaker 1: And the most amazing thing I saw was a chap
- 30:17Speaker 1: that had no arms. So, all right, how do you
- 30:19Speaker 1: play table tennis with no arms? So the bat was
- 30:22Speaker 1: in his mouth and he had no shoes on. And
- 30:24Speaker 1: he put the or somebody put the ball between his
- 30:27Speaker 1: toes and he flicked it up and then he played
- 30:30Speaker 1: tennis with his mouth. I mean, that was absolutely unbelievable.
- 30:35Speaker 4: You know, a lot of them would go off in
- 30:37Speaker 4: their wheelchairs. They go off to Stratford shopping, Westfield. And
- 30:41Speaker 4: we were at the top of a slope. And you
- 30:43Speaker 4: see some of them in their wheelchair. They bought so
- 30:44Speaker 4: many things at Westfield. so many bags attached to the back.
- 30:48Speaker 4: The front wheels kept coming up. And you go and
- 30:50Speaker 4: help them.
- 30:51Speaker 1: No, no, no.
- 30:52Speaker 4: They said, no, no, no. The reason why they're there
- 30:54Speaker 4: doing that gig at the Paralympics is because they've overcome
- 30:58Speaker 4: adversity and they don't need help. They did not like
- 31:01Speaker 4: you going to help them. Right, right. But, yes, great fun.
- 31:04Speaker 1: Okay, so we've got... Now we're all starting to run
- 31:07Speaker 1: out of time. We could be here all day. But
- 31:09Speaker 1: what we're going to do now, we're going to turn
- 31:11Speaker 1: to Dave's third song, And then after that, we're going
- 31:14Speaker 1: to actually talk about why we're here today, which is
- 31:17Speaker 1: talking about Dave's 100-kilometre walk. So, Dave, your third song,
- 31:20Speaker 1: what is that? And tell us the story about it.
- 31:22Speaker 4: That's The Foo Fighters, Learn to Fly. This kind of
- 31:25Speaker 4: sums up my retirement, really, finding your purpose. It's what
- 31:29Speaker 4: I've just been talking about over the last few minutes,
- 31:31Speaker 4: about the joy of retirement if you find your purpose.
- 31:34Speaker 4: And this song really sums it up.
- 31:37Speaker 1: Right. OK, so there we go. Sit back and listen
- 31:39Speaker 1: to this one. This is The Foo Fighters and Learn
- 31:42Speaker 1: to Fly.
- 31:51Speaker 3: Make my way back home when I learn to.
- 32:07Speaker 1: Fly As the Foo Fighters there learn to fly Right Dave,
- 32:11Speaker 1: now the one reason I really asked you to come
- 32:15Speaker 1: in was to tell us about your 100k walk over
- 32:19Speaker 1: two days So, I don't know, where do we start?
- 32:23Speaker 1: Let's go back. The obvious thing is, how's your training
- 32:25Speaker 1: been going?
- 32:26Speaker 4: Good, yeah. Various travels. Wherever I am, we've gone walking. So,
- 32:32Speaker 4: over the summer, my wife and I, we walked all
- 32:34Speaker 4: the way from where we live in Sandgate down to Dungeness.
- 32:37Speaker 4: That was just under 20 miles, but we've been up
- 32:40Speaker 4: to the Lake District, did Sunday Crag, the High Street,
- 32:45Speaker 4: and a few walks up there. Then we went to
- 32:48Speaker 4: the Edinburgh Festival. We didn't get the bus. We walked
- 32:51Speaker 4: from Edinburgh up and down the hills. And then we've
- 32:54Speaker 4: just come back from Croatia, so we've done a lot
- 32:56Speaker 4: of warm walking. So various conditions. It's not going to
- 33:00Speaker 4: be as warm next weekend. It's going to be quite flat.
- 33:04Speaker 4: I think the only incline is up and down bridges
- 33:07Speaker 4: where there's no tunnel underneath them. So it's dead flat.
- 33:10Speaker 1: Yeah.
- 33:10Speaker 4: It's just the distance. I'm fine about Saturday, but Sunday morning,
- 33:16Speaker 4: I'm not sure. You know, I've done... 31 miles the
- 33:18Speaker 4: previous day, I've got to get up and do it
- 33:20Speaker 4: all again on Sunday morning.
- 33:22Speaker 1: Well, I don't know what to say there, really. When
- 33:25Speaker 1: I did my 100k, I did it through the day
- 33:28Speaker 1: and through the night, but I did have a really
- 33:30Speaker 1: bad moment, and it was about halfway, where I went
- 33:33Speaker 1: into a food station in the daytime and sorted all
- 33:37Speaker 1: my feet out, and then I come out in the
- 33:39Speaker 1: night time, and it really, really hit me. I thought,
- 33:44Speaker 1: I'm only halfway. But I think... It's physical. Sorry, it's mental,
- 33:49Speaker 1: not physical. You're a strong-willed person, Dave, and you've got
- 33:53Speaker 1: to talk yourself into it, which is what I did
- 33:56Speaker 1: over the next four or five miles. I just convinced myself,
- 33:59Speaker 1: snap out of it, Kevin, you know, and remembered why
- 34:04Speaker 1: I'm doing it. And you could remember about your dad,
- 34:07Speaker 1: why you're doing it, remember about your dad. And there's
- 34:10Speaker 1: little things you've got to talk yourself into it. And
- 34:14Speaker 1: then I'm sure, apart from the aches and pains, getting
- 34:16Speaker 1: going again over the next few miles, I'm sure you'll
- 34:18Speaker 1: do it.
- 34:19Speaker 4: There's two things I'd like to pick up on. People
- 34:21Speaker 4: that know me know I'm ruled by my stomach. So
- 34:24Speaker 4: stopping at a food station, you know, I've done the
- 34:27Speaker 4: Pilgrims 100 mile race and I went to St Margaret's.
- 34:30Speaker 4: It looked like I'd gate crashed a wedding.
- 34:31Speaker 1: It's the cycling I was on.
- 34:32Speaker 4: The cycling.
- 34:32Speaker 1: Right, yeah.
- 34:34Speaker 2: 100 mile.
- 34:34Speaker 4: Sorry, not a walk, it was a cycle. And they'd
- 34:37Speaker 4: put so much food on, I thought I'd get crashed
- 34:39Speaker 4: to a wedding. And I spent too long there eating.
- 34:43Speaker 4: So I've got to be careful on these food stops
- 34:46Speaker 4: of the weekend that I stop, do what I need
- 34:49Speaker 4: to do, and then get out there and don't eat
- 34:51Speaker 4: too much.
- 34:52Speaker 1: Well, do you know what? I've got a little list
- 34:53Speaker 1: of kind of things that I just cast my memory
- 34:56Speaker 1: back to my race, my walk. And so with the training,
- 35:00Speaker 1: you know, it sounds like you've got the training under
- 35:03Speaker 1: your belt and, you know... I take it you're comfortable
- 35:06Speaker 1: in the shoes and that sort of thing and changing
- 35:09Speaker 1: your socks. Bob, is there any other parts of kit
- 35:12Speaker 1: that you really had to purchase to do such a walk?
- 35:17Speaker 4: Compedes. Compedes are my lifesaver.
- 35:20Speaker 1: Explain what I know about them.
- 35:21Speaker 4: Compede is a wonderful plaster, especially for blisters. And they
- 35:26Speaker 4: are the most amazing thing. Any blister or any scuffed
- 35:30Speaker 4: skin within any part of your anatomy... Compedes not only
- 35:34Speaker 4: protect it, they heal it as well. And you just
- 35:36Speaker 4: leave them there for days. And they've saved my life.
- 35:40Speaker 4: I do get issues around my little toe, my little
- 35:42Speaker 4: pinky on my left foot. Just put a compede around it,
- 35:46Speaker 4: I can walk all day.
- 35:47Speaker 1: That's great, yeah. And it's no good, from my experience,
- 35:50Speaker 1: it's no good leaving blisters until it's too late, thinking, oh,
- 35:53Speaker 1: it'll go away. Now, me and my Sue, we did
- 35:56Speaker 1: a 37-mile walk just because we wanted to have a challenge.
- 36:01Speaker 1: And she said to me, I can feel a hot
- 36:02Speaker 1: spot on the back of my ankle. Something's getting hot.
- 36:04Speaker 1: I said, stop.
- 36:05Speaker 4: Right.
- 36:06Speaker 1: So we stopped, took the shoe off and you could
- 36:08Speaker 1: just see the various signs of a blister. So we
- 36:10Speaker 1: put a corn feed on and she didn't have any
- 36:12Speaker 1: more trouble. Um, so anything else?
- 36:15Speaker 4: I mean, my reason for doing it and the date
- 36:18Speaker 4: is quite important. Uh, this week is the 40th anniversary
- 36:21Speaker 4: of the passing of my father.
- 36:22Speaker 1: Oh, right.
- 36:23Speaker 4: Uh, he died alone in 1986 in very sad circumstances. Um,
- 36:30Speaker 4: My wife happens to be away this weekend. So I
- 36:32Speaker 4: wanted to do something.
- 36:34Speaker 1: You're taking it a bit extreme, Dave. Why don't you
- 36:36Speaker 1: just go down to the pub?
- 36:38Speaker 4: She's gone to Switzerland for the weekend. And I thought,
- 36:41Speaker 4: what am I going to do? I don't know how
- 36:44Speaker 4: I saw this. Some event somewhere. And we do love
- 36:48Speaker 4: walking along the Thames. My wife and I, a number
- 36:51Speaker 4: of times, we walked from St Pancras down to Richmond,
- 36:53Speaker 4: had a nice meal in Richmond, got the train back.
- 36:56Speaker 4: So it is a part of London that we know well.
- 36:59Speaker 4: We've cycled all the way out to Marlow. And I thought,
- 37:03Speaker 4: this sounds quite familiar. I'm going to have a go
- 37:05Speaker 4: at this. And there's some beautiful places to stop on
- 37:08Speaker 4: the way. So, yeah, the timing is important for me.
- 37:12Speaker 1: Yeah.
- 37:13Speaker 4: The charity I'm running for is important to me.
- 37:16Speaker 1: And, yeah, I like a challenge. It's all kind of
- 37:19Speaker 1: fallen into place, really, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So
- 37:22Speaker 1: it's over two nights. So what are you doing? You're camping?
- 37:25Speaker 4: Yeah, well, I start at 8 o'clock Saturday.
- 37:27Speaker 1: Sorry, tell us a little bit about where you start,
- 37:29Speaker 1: the route. That's interesting.
- 37:30Speaker 4: Yeah, I start 8 o'clock Saturday morning at Bishop's Park,
- 37:33Speaker 4: right by Fulham Football Club. Then we walk down to Runnymede.
- 37:39Speaker 4: They did offer me a tent for the night with
- 37:42Speaker 4: a little one-inch foam mattress for 60 quid. And I
- 37:47Speaker 4: declined that. I found an Airbnb down the road. It's
- 37:49Speaker 4: got a bath. And I'm staying there. So I'm staying
- 37:53Speaker 4: there at Runnymede on Saturday night. And then I'm at
- 37:55Speaker 4: 6 a.m. on a rolling start Sunday morning from Runnymede
- 38:00Speaker 4: all the way to Henley. And I hope that walking time,
- 38:03Speaker 4: maybe 10 and a half hours plus stops. So and
- 38:07Speaker 4: I think what something you mentioned that, you know, once
- 38:10Speaker 4: you get chatting to people on the route. the time
- 38:13Speaker 4: will fly and you've probably got quite a lot in
- 38:15Speaker 4: common with some of these people oh definitely that would
- 38:18Speaker 4: get that would get me through the day yeah yeah.
- 38:20Speaker 1: I found out on my walk you're all there for
- 38:23Speaker 1: a reason something's driving you on i mean why would
- 38:26Speaker 1: you want to walk you know 100k you've got to
- 38:28Speaker 1: have something you don't just do it well there are
- 38:30Speaker 1: some people out there but you know you've got to
- 38:32Speaker 1: have a reason haven't you and everyone out there you'll
- 38:35Speaker 1: find What worries me, though, Dave, is when you set
- 38:38Speaker 1: off on your second day, you'll find the people there
- 38:41Speaker 1: that are starting on their first day, and they'll be gone,
- 38:43Speaker 1: won't they? They'll be gone, and you'll see all these
- 38:46Speaker 1: old crocs trying to loosen up.
- 38:48Speaker 4: Well, there's a combination of events. There's the 100k, there's
- 38:51Speaker 4: the 50, there's a 25 and a 10. So, yeah,
- 38:53Speaker 4: you're right, you're going to come across all kinds of
- 38:56Speaker 4: people running, walking or suffering, like I'm probably going to
- 39:00Speaker 4: be on Sunday morning.
- 39:02Speaker 1: So logistics, I mean, I had this issue when I went,
- 39:06Speaker 1: I did London to Brighton. So I went up on
- 39:08Speaker 1: the train, stayed in a bed and breakfast for one
- 39:12Speaker 1: night near Richmond Park. But then I thought, how am
- 39:14Speaker 1: I going to get home from Brighton? So what are
- 39:16Speaker 1: you doing? How are you getting home from Henley?
- 39:18Speaker 4: It's quite a convoluted train journey from Henley to get
- 39:22Speaker 4: to St Pancras. That bit I haven't really thought through.
- 39:24Speaker 4: I'm not sure when I'm going to get there. You
- 39:27Speaker 4: know what? I might just jump in an Uber and
- 39:29Speaker 4: say take me to St Pancras. St Pancras please and
- 39:31Speaker 4: just lie down in the back because I can't be
- 39:33Speaker 4: bothered to keep changing trains so I'll probably want to
- 39:36Speaker 4: get home so I'm going to see how I feel
- 39:39Speaker 4: and then adapt my journey home around that and I'm
- 39:44Speaker 4: raising money for South Kent Mind as well I.
- 39:46Speaker 1: Think we've got to Tell our listeners that you have
- 39:51Speaker 1: got a JustGiving page.
- 39:53Speaker 4: Yeah, it's Dave Warbrook, D-A-V-E-W-A-L-B-R-O-O-K, JustGiving. I'm raising money for
- 40:01Speaker 4: South Kent Mind, which we talked about, something dear to
- 40:03Speaker 4: my heart. I'm just about halfway what I want to
- 40:07Speaker 4: raise so far, which is great. And some amazing people
- 40:10Speaker 4: have sponsored me and sent some lovely messages. but every
- 40:14Speaker 4: penny will be spent locally on local needs and there's
- 40:17Speaker 4: also on the South Kent Mine Facebook page as well
- 40:20Speaker 4: I think there's a link.
- 40:21Speaker 1: Yeah that's right if I posted I shared a link
- 40:23Speaker 1: because Dave was coming on the show today so if
- 40:26Speaker 1: you can't remember that then if you just go to
- 40:28Speaker 1: South Kent Mine or go to my Facebook page there
- 40:32Speaker 1: is a link you can just click on there and
- 40:35Speaker 1: if you are you know if you'd really help Dave
- 40:37Speaker 1: then if you make a small donation I always say
- 40:40Speaker 1: that Lots of small donations make a big donation, so
- 40:44Speaker 1: please have a little think about that.
- 40:45Speaker 4: Thank you.
- 40:46Speaker 1: So, Dave, what else have I got here? I've got
- 40:49Speaker 1: how you're getting home and the rest of it. Oh, yes,
- 40:52Speaker 1: there's one thing that I've got here. Now, you had to...
- 40:55Speaker 1: I don't know if you used them before, but you're
- 40:57Speaker 1: actually using walking poles?
- 40:58Speaker 4: Yes, because one thing I found on these long walks
- 41:01Speaker 4: was my hands got very swollen.
- 41:03Speaker 1: Yeah, mine did as well.
- 41:03Speaker 4: It's a side effect. This is a bit odd.
- 41:05Speaker 1: No, it's not a side effect. It's where your circulation
- 41:08Speaker 1: isn't circulating properly. Yeah. And... The very same thing I
- 41:12Speaker 1: said to you the other day. I put this into
- 41:14Speaker 1: the London to Brighton Facebook page. And I said, is
- 41:16Speaker 1: it just me? And the page lit up. I get
- 41:19Speaker 1: fat fingers as well. But what I learned to do
- 41:22Speaker 1: was hang on to the straps of my rucksack when
- 41:25Speaker 1: I was walking or if my fingers were getting fat.
- 41:27Speaker 1: But the poles did help. Oh, yeah.
- 41:29Speaker 4: In the Lake District, we used them quite extensively. And
- 41:32Speaker 4: they're very helpful coming down a steep slope. But to
- 41:36Speaker 4: actually stop your hand swelling is the reason I'll be
- 41:38Speaker 4: using them on the Thames trail. path right and they
- 41:42Speaker 4: do work i've got normal sized hands after a.
- 41:45Speaker 1: Long walk because you're carrying a bunch of bananas exactly
- 41:48Speaker 1: yeah yeah all right okay dave we are running out
- 41:51Speaker 1: of time we've just got a minute or so but
- 41:53Speaker 1: um i know this is difficult to do is anyone
- 41:55Speaker 1: you want to mention anyone that's really really stands out
- 41:58Speaker 1: uh in any of the things that you've done uh
- 42:01Speaker 1: any anyone that supported you uh away you go well.
- 42:04Speaker 4: My wife has supported me i'm driven to do this
- 42:07Speaker 4: for my dad I'd also like to give a mention
- 42:11Speaker 4: to my new grandson, Jude, who was born last Thursday.
- 42:15Speaker 4: He's a week old today. I've just bought him his
- 42:18Speaker 4: first football shirt.
- 42:20Speaker 1: What's his name?
- 42:21Speaker 4: Jude. So he's a week old and I'll be thinking
- 42:25Speaker 4: a lot about him. He's got his first Arsenal shirt. And, yeah,
- 42:30Speaker 4: it's him, my family and my close friends. And I'm
- 42:33Speaker 4: very grateful for all the support and all the lovely messages.
- 42:35Speaker 1: OK, well, that's brilliant. OK, well, Dave, it's been absolutely treasure.
- 42:39Speaker 1: It's been great speaking to you. Well, that's it for me.
- 42:42Speaker 1: It's been an amazing morning chatting with you, Dave. And
- 42:45Speaker 1: we wish you all the best on your 100km walk.
- 42:48Speaker 1: No Saudi sports show for me this week or AD.
- 42:52Speaker 1: AD's at Scarborough down the road. And I'll be on
- 42:54Speaker 1: the mic at the Dover Waterfront Park Run as they
- 42:56Speaker 1: celebrate their third birthday. So I'm back next Thursday between
- 43:00Speaker 1: one or two. In the meantime, have a great weekend.
- 43:02Speaker 1: And thank you, Dave.
- 43:03Speaker 4: Yeah, thank you, Kevin. It's been great. Thank you for
- 43:05Speaker 4: your time.