Rachel Colenso

Thanks to West London Mums for a great article! westlondonmum.co.uk  I hope we garner more support for The Red Cross Disaster Fund. We are planning to complete our next leg of the scoot up the Thames starting at Runneymede Playpark and heading approximately four miles up the river to straight road in Old Windsor. This will be on 9th March in the afternoon. If interested in joining us please email me on: rachelcolenso@gmail.com

Wow, delighted to be receiving donations for our scoot along the Thames for the Red Cross Disaster Fund. We are now starting to see donations from people beyond family and friends which is very exciting. It is very encouraging, and I think we cannot give up now. If the weather is OK on Sunday we will head out and try to continue. Am hoping that in the following weeks we may be able to ferry some supplies out that could be useful to people who have lost their belongings along the Thames. As I write gale force winds are shaking the entire building we are in. The glass in our windows, and floor is reverberating despite its concrete base. Just getting concerned because the entire structure is beginning to move and the trees outside are moving from near the base of their trunks. We are in the Heathrow flight path, and apparently planes are being diverted or delayed from landing at Heathrow. It is quite frightening because you cannot be sure how much wind a building like this can withsta...

(Our family have completed over 60km of a charity challenge we set ourselves to support The British Red Cross Disaster Fund. We plan to scoot the length of The Thames. We have travelled, with our daughters (now age 3 and 6) scooting from Battersea, all the way to Staines-upon-Thames.) Our journey has become increasingly difficult with debris from the extreme winds and Christmas storms blocking sections of the towpath along Sunbury, and the first indications of lowland flooding at Denborough Island West on the 5th of January . Flooding of roads prevented us accessing the section from Shepperton to the M3 on the 12th of January. Following this, we continued with the next section of the scoot and were shocked to see vast stretches of the Thames flooded with homes lining the southern banks partially submerged. This was  from the M3 to Laleham on 19th of January 2014. On the section from Laleham to Staines on the 16th of January 2014 car parks, fields and childrens' playgrounds w...

See below, the article written on our world record scooting challenge to help the British Red Cross Disaster Fund: Article in Getsurrey regional news channel IF you would like to support our little girls and help to give food, shelter and hope to someone right now you can donate here: Thames River Scoot

  We are attempting to scoot the length of the Thames River to raise funds for the Red Cross International Disaster Fund . By coincidence, today we scooted passed one of many areas where The Thames has burst its banks and flooded homes. The area is Laleham, near Staines upon Thames. People, many elderly were notified at 4am last week by the environmental agency to get rations and warm bedding and to move into the upper most rooms or attics of their homes. They were instructed to fill pillow cases with earth from their gardens and create barricades to prevent flooding where possible. They have spent a week in freezing winter conditions without electricity. So extremely sad to witness this disaster. We spoke to one man who's 74 year old sister was told to go into the garden and fill pillow cases with earth. It was 4am, and pouring with rain at the time. People have been afraid to evacuate their home. Many have had nowhere to go to. This has given us a tiny insight into ...

It was an unlikely meeting, but one I will never forget. New Years Eve 1999 - the eve of the Millennium. To mark this auspicious event some friends and I planned a climb to the summit of Table Mountain at night, with head torches, clinging to the 200m sheer rock face that plummets vertically beneath the line of the cable car. The aim was to surprise the SABC TV broadcaster who would be poised near the edge ready to comment on the millenium celebrations at the Tip of Africa by popping our heads over the cliff top at 2 minutes to 12. Hopefully we would also avoid the shower of champagne corks heading off the mountain. We spent the afternoon organising ropes and equipment and some rather fetching outfits to go under our harnesses. One of our three person team painted their body gold! Enroute to the start of our climb we made a quick stop at a shopping center in Claremont (a suburb of Cape Town). In the joie de vivre of the moment I left my purse on the shop counter. As I left the shop d...

Today, icy cold gusts, branches and debris from the recent hurricane, St Jude, marred our journey along The Thames. We completed the section from Sunbury lock, to the Western most point of Denborough Island, via the longer route following the true river path of The Thames. On any journey or adventure there are options to guild the lily. It is rather tempting to do so, and find really good excuses to justify your choice. Now, all said, the aftermath of a hurricane is a rather good excuse. The option for us was whether we be true to ourselves, and our journey to follow The Thames, or choose a shorter, less tree lined and hazardous route alongside the cut through, Denborough Channel... In the scale of cheating this , well it hardly counts. You are looking at around 3 kilometers, less than 1/100th of the entire journey, and after all, as we had conceived of this journey, would it really matter? Would anyone be bothered? .... No... Ok, so we chose the harder route, and this was why: Whe...