Grannies can do anything!

This month we were treated to a very inspirational talk by Tess Burrows, an amazingly fit and energetic grannie who had decided to pour her energies into making a difference to the world for the benefit of her grandchildren.

She started her mission by gathering peace messages from children and taking them to the mountains of Tibet, where she hung them in the wind as prayer flags. This evolved into further journeys to the Andes and the Himalayas, Ecuador and The North Pole, each time in search of the highest, farthest, driest places on earth to release her peace messages. Having ventured to the North Pole it only seemed right to venture to The South Pole. She and her husband signed up for the South Pole Race and started two years of intensive training. Tess described towing tyres, running marathons and other exhausting sounding training before they set off. She explained how they towed their kit on sledges and their daily routine as they walked all day for 6 weeks, without meeting another soul, in temperatures as low as -50! She described herself as being on the edge of madness for much of the time but also how the experience of having so much time and space to think was life affirming. A stunning collection of photographs accompanied her talk and members gasped and sighed in equal measure.

She has raised over £100,000 towards rebuilding 6 schools in Tibet that were hit by the earthquakes.

Jackie and Fiona served us excellent refreshments as we all contemplated such an impressive set of challenges. Tess had encouraged us all to think about smaller things that we could do to challenge ourselves if we really tried - definitely food for thought!