Pinch Me Moments at Goodwood
Week 30 of the Participate World journey saw Chris Lomax MBE enjoying the second week of his much-deserved family holiday, and me down south spending time with an incredibly diverse group of people, all with a great passion for community sport.
Tuesday really was one of those ‘pinch me’ moments, as I had the great honour of being on the panel for a sport & diplomacy discussion, hosted at Goodwood House by His Grace The Duke of Richmond and His Excellency Sheikh Abdulla bin Mohammed Al Thani (Qatar's Ambassador to the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland). The session was delivered in collaboration with Wilton Park and chaired brilliantly by J Simon Rofe from the University of Leeds and, continuing the Leeds theme, it was an honour to sit alongside Dr Jo Clarke from Leeds Beckett University as we discussed the potential impact of community sport, and how specifically it could support diplomatic efforts around the world.
On Wednesday, I made what’s now becoming a regular habit and dropped in to see Tim Holtam, William Bayley MBE, and the rest of the brilliant Brighton Table Tennis Club community. Honestly, if you’re ever down that way please do drop in and say hi, and I promise you will leave feeling so much better than when you arrived.
As part of our ambition to support community sport, we’re trying to bring together leaders in the field, so that they can share ideas and inspire each other, and also know that they are not alone. It was brilliant therefore to introduce Tim to the amazing Ivo Gormley, Founder of GoodGym and all round game-changer. All three of us then joined the Brighton Sanctuary Runners GB group for a lunchtime run, before dropping into the The Real Junk Food Project cafe for an amazing ‘pay as you feel’ lunch.
Then, finally, on day three of my trip, I caught up with Mel Bound and Georgie Freeman to discuss Georgie’s work with the amazing This Woman Runs Run Angels and Community Leaders.
At the heart of every great organisation is a powerful why, and This Woman Runs’ ambition to provide a safe and zero-pressure running community for women to connect, meet up, chat, laugh, share challenges, celebrate achievements, cheer each other on and run together, is a strong as ever.
What a week.
📸 The panel from Tuesday’s event