Miss Bailey's Blog - 24th May 2024

With seemingly 500 miles to go and the Proclaimer’s tune ringing in our ears, a brave group of Godstowe parents and staff (AKA the Godstowe Mooners) set off to London last Saturday evening for the London Moonwalk 2024. I walked this marathon overnight about 20 years ago, and was certainly feeling buoyant about walking it again. The atmosphere on Clapham Common was electric with hundreds of tutus, pink sparkles, lights and an endless series of warm up routines! It was a great turn out from Godstowe, with over 40 walkers and I’m most grateful to have been part of it as the camaraderie and team spirit was high- just what our community is all about.

Inevitably, the group disperses as you walk, due to the sheer size of the crowd. It was amazing to see all the London landmarks lit up in pink as we walked through the dark, with Battersea Power Station with pink chimneys and the London Eye looking beautiful in pink as it turned over the Thames. I walked with Mrs Sweeney and Mrs Reynolds and I will never forget how we buoyed each other along the route, taking it in turns to chivvy and encourage as we dipped at different times. Above all, the laughter and joking fuelled us round, as it always does! 

Celebrating each mile landmark was key and it is fair to say that we hit a real low at we passed the 20 mile marker and knew we still had over 6 to go. Muscles and hips were most definitely burning at this stage (I don’t remember this from 20 years ago!) However, somehow we pushed through, dug deep, found that trademark resilience and conquered the final mile and hill (yes,hill!!)) as we approached the end and Clapham Common, quite literally falling over the finish line!

What an incredible experience that will bind us all together for the years to come. Thank you to everyone who gave up their weekend to raise an incredible amount of money for Breast Cancer Research- what a worthy cause and as I type, I can see that the group total is a whopping £18,700! What a great total but we are still hoping to get to our £24,500 target- can you help us get there? The Godstowe Mooners would be delighted and Mrs Niven even walked the full 26.2 miles in a Godstowe boater and tutu- what more could we ask?!

Thank you for any further donations- we would be delighted to absolutely SMASH our target! The link to our donation page is included in the Newsletter.

I hear there are plans for the next challenge already and maybe you might like to join us for the next one. I’m definitely in (I think!)….

Happy half term everyone- have a wonderful break and see you all back for the official return date of Monday 3rd June. The final part of the school year is always my favourite and we have many special events on offer for all.