Mum
by this time had also got back to running. She and Dad had got involved with
the Muscular Dystrophy Group as I have mentioned in another blog. Dad had ended
up on the National Committee and had to go down to London quite often for
meetings with the boss of M.D. the President, who at that time was Richard
Attenborough (yes ‘Dicky’, he used to send us Christmas cards, how good was
that?) and other committee members. The OSO, who as you know was not good at
sitting down decided she would raise money for the group by running marathons
and getting sponsored for doing so. Over the years she ran several, including
three London and one New York marathon. I remember just before she went off to
do the New York marathon, she raised about £20,000 from this one alone, we as a
family were invited down the the NEC for the Muscular Dystrophy Group’s ‘Commit
to get Fit Campaign’ press release.
It’s a long story which I won’t bore you with,
but basically the idea was that people around the country got themselves sponsored
to get fit thus raising money for Muscular Dystrophy. Sally Gunnell (who was the 400 metre hurdle
Olympic gold medalist) and Roger Black (Olympic 400 metre runner) were also
there as ‘fit’ celebrities. We had been invited I think because we were a good
family to involve because we did a lot with the group and we gave a positive
image to the wider public about the various aspects of living with Muscular
Dystrophy. We got to sit with Sally and Roger who were both really nice. The
OSO and Sally never stopped talking to each other about horses would you
believe!
Anyway;
at this press release the Chairman stood up and told all the press about the
Campaign and how it worked, it was big, it was a national campaign so the group
were hoping to raise lots of money from it. Then Sally Gunnell stood up and
talked about how keen she was to support the Campaign and then Mum was invited
to stand up and say how important it was to raise money to help families and
raise money for research.
I
could have told them that was not a good idea, give the OSO a stage and she’s
off!! To be fair she started well and said all the right things, but then she
went onto say that she wanted to show that families didn’t just receive money
from others, but also raised money themselves to help the Group. ‘ Indeed’ she
said she was just going off to run the New York marathon, THEN she said she had
considered asking Sally Gunnell and Roger Black to go with her, but she was
afraid that they wouldn’t be able to cope with the distance as Roger only ran
400 metres round a track and he was exhausted; and Sally, granted she jumped a
few little hurdles on the way round the 400 metre track, but the she too collapsed, so the OSO was worried
that they wouldn’t be able to keep up with her! I ask you!
To
be fair, it did raise a great laugh from the press audience and Sally and Roger
seemed to take it very well. (it’s funny, but it never clicked until I wrote
this blog that it’s strange that Sally Gunnell and Roger Black have the same
names as one of my bros and my Mum) Well there you go.
Still
the evening went well and the OSO did do the marathon and raise loads of money
and she and Sally kept in contact for quite a while after that. So in the end,
it all went very well and it did keep the OSO out of our hair for a while
whilst she was in America!
No comments:
Post a comment