Village fayre preservation society

Perhaps dubbing ourselves the village fayre preservation society is a bit strong but we did contribute a bottle to the school tombola and Rachel did the 5 mile 'Fun Run' in under 50 minutes so we chipped in.

Bad weather had blighted the previous two Bocking Village Fayres but this year was different, the sun shone continuously. The Fun Run started at noon so we went a bit earlier than usual and while Rachel made her way round the fields of the Fennes Estate, Thomas and Martha with Nanny, Grandad and Daddy in tow visited Thomas' school, and the other attractions. Here's Martha on the roundabout



Both Thomas and Martha took advantage of the face painting on offer, Martha opting for fairly simple butterfly while Thomas made sure Nanny got her money's worth by opting for a time consuming Spiderman design. Here he is being worked on, the phenomenally loud samba band are just out of shot



The finished article



Martha took about half the time, but she was happy with the results



What better way to round things off than with a pint?

Simply the (personal) best

I know it was a while ago now but back in September Rachel ran her first 10K (see here). On 7th October she did her second - the Southend 10K along Southend sea front. It being flatter, less windy and Rachel having the benefit of having done one already she improved her time to under an hour - 58 mins and 12seconds.
It was quite a family affair, with Lynda, John, David, Nicky, Paul and Stella all taking part as well and a similar number of people on support / childminding duties.

Here's another shaky handheld digital camera video clip of Rachel arriving at the finish.

Running up that hill

Or, more precisely, running up those hills. Rachel did her first 10K run on Sunday 23rd September with Vicki in the lovely grounds of Bowood House in aid of Cancer Research. You can make an after the event donation at the link on the right.





Rachel completed the distance in a little over 63 minutes, hopefully the flatter course at Southend in a couple of weeks will be covered slightly quicker.

Here's a short clip of her arriving at the finish (with Martha providing vocal encouragement), just click on the play button.




Thanks to everyone who sponsored Rachel, you can still add some more at this link.