Issue 306 – Frome teacher to give his sponsors a run for their money

A Frome teacher is spending his summer holidays running as far as he can along the South West Coast in seven days, in order to raise money for Frome-based charity Openstorytellers.

Kevin Ross, a teacher at Selwood School, has decided to celebrate his 50th birthday in an unusual way – by taking on the charity challenge. He will be raising money through sponsorship.
Kevin will be setting off on Saturday 14th August and running as far as he can over the following seven days. The path itself is 630 miles long, stretching from Minehead in Somerset, to Poole harbour in Dorset.
“I aim to travel as far from Swanage in a westerly direction as I can,” Kevin told the Frome Times. “My target is to reach 200 miles which would mean running an average of 30 miles each day.”
Openstorytellers is an inclusive company of storytellers with learning disabilities. It empowers people to discover myths and legends, and share personal experiences.
Its work with people who have profound learning disabilities has transformed their lives by making others aware of how to use stories to recall and share experiences and build friendships.
“My wife is a story teller for the charity so I know how great the work they do is and the budgets they have to stick to,” Kevin said.
Emma Wilson, administrator at Openstorytellers said, “Unfortunately, Kevin has been off to a unlucky start. After one of his recent training sessions, he popped his new running shoes on the clothes line, only to come back a couple of hours later to find they’d been stolen!
“How far will he get? No one quite knows and pupils from Selwood School are busy trying to guess!”
Kevin is asking for sponsorship for his run with all proceeds going to Openstorytellers. If you would like to support Kevin you can donate online at www.charitygiving.co.uk/openstorytellers.
You can follow Kevin’s adventure on the Openstorytellers Facebook and Twitter pages.
If you would like to know more about Openstorytellers, call 01373 888 402 or email info@openstorytellers.org.uk.