It has been one of my aims in life to keep as fit as I can, and to get some fun out of it at the same time. This has been achieved, for the most part, by running at least 20 miles per week. I suppose I got a bit interested in this sport whilst still at school. Mainly because I had a lifetime hate of Cricket, me and a few others would go cross-country running to avoid this deadly boring game! With school days far behind, I got out of the habit of running, or, for that matter, much exercise at all! It was not until I was coerced into taking part in the works annual fun-run that I got interested again. I think I was about 40 at the time. It was hard work I well remember, but I survived the ordeal.

I'm not really sure why, but, some time later, I started to go out running, alone, and for short distances. The first few times were pretty awful, but it never put me off. After a while, I was put in touch with another fellow, who had similar interests as myself in this respect. Since then, and over the years, we have run thousands of miles together, so we are about the same standard, and that has been good. Sometimes, if the weather is really bad, and you might prefer to sit in the armchair, you are still encouraged to go out there in order not to disappoint your running partner. So, for this reason alone, it's a good idea to run with others, and one of the reasons we formed a running club in our village.

This was the Neston Running Club, formed in 1986, and, at our peak we had upwards of 50 members on the books. They covered a wide age range too. We would do our stuff on Tuesday evenings and Sunday mornings. The latter time was later abandoned due to falling interest, and the fact it loused up a whole Sunday for some folk! The Club membership gradually dwindled, and things were not looking at all good, when, to cap it all, the premises we occupied became no longer available. What was left of the membership were offered new accommodation at the Sports Centre in the nearby town of Corsham. In short (shorts?) this did us the world of good, because new members were soon recruited from the other users of the Sports Centre. I have covered the continuing story of the Club's development on the Club's new website, which is at the following URL:-