Rachel Colenso

Jeremy and Rachel Colenso with family, Shepperton  Thames River Scoot supporting the British Red Cross This week we took the chance to trial our new micro-scooters from Shepperton to Laleham. - Two places that have received recent global attention as flood waters rose to record heights, wrecking homes and causing thousands to be evacuated. The prime Minister, David Cameron waded through the flooded roads in his wellies captured on news-clips with a look of disbelief and exhaustion. (This had been a rather arduous and wet tour of southern Britain!) I can only imagine that someone in his position must have a very firm and rational mind, because I would definitely have spent the next two weeks having nightmares of floods and storms. Rosemary and Jasmine scooting through Shepperton, Thames River Scoot This section of the Thames was recently under so much water that we were stopped nearly a mile from the Thames by what we thought was a river that had burst its banks. It wasn...

Yesterday I visited the headquarters the of the British Red Cross in London to discuss some exciting new ideas. We also handed over all those kind donations people have given supporting our World Record breaking Thames River Scoot(!) in support of the Red Cross's Disaster Fund. Jasmine at the Red Cross with Shelley wearing a Red Cross 'Refusing to ignore People in Crisis' t shirt We had an interesting inside glimpse behind the scenes of this universal humanitarian organisation. Jasmine, our three year old accompanied me on her micro scooter. No-one there had ever seen someone 'scoot' in for a meeting, so Jasmine became quite a novelty. When things all became less exciting for a three year old, Jasmine found a sheep... yes a sheep stood in the corner of the offices. Shelley the Sheep is on her way to the Tower of London today, thankfully as a mascot, and not a dinner offering. Shelley is  very mobile, stood on a green, four wheeled landscape.We created quit...

Last week I was given the opportunity to make a small presentation in Christ Church, in Sheen to explain our big scoot for The British Red Cross. Our eldest daughter (Rosemary, 6) made a display on a noticeboard. We included newspaper clippings of our 'World Record Scooting attempt' and large photos of our journey along the Thames, scooting through the flood waters. We also set up a table with inviting goodies and information about the British Red Cross. Many people studied the pictures, and donations flooded right in too! It was a super experience and made all our scooting efforts seem all the more worthwhile. In total over £350 from the generous congregation at Christ Church was donated. Thank you Christ Church! It was however rather awkward answering questions about when our next leg of the scoot was taking place, because as some of you know, our daughters scooters had been stolen. I told Rosemary we must just focus on what our plan is - to scoot the length of the Thames...

Last week we took the opportunity of a clear and warmer evening to complete the next leg of our scoot, from Runneymede to the historic church in Old Windsor. Unfortunately some of the path remains submerged, and we now have in total, 2 short sections to complete in the summer between our journey so far, from Battersea to Old Windsor. The evening was lovely, but again another sad reminder of the recent floods- peoples hard earned money and leisure smashed against weirs and riverbeds. - We have now passed a number of capsized boats of varying sizes, still unable to be rescued as the water is running at full capacity. Then in the evening air we hear a call - an owl close by... and it was! Dolby is a pet Eagle Owl, a large bird who's favourite perch is close to the river in Old Windsor. After a great round of Twit-twoos! we carried on scooting our hearts out through muddy pathways and on more manageable terrain until we reached a quaint old church in Old Windsor. Sadly in the ex...