This Sunday, Clare, Caldon, Mark and I will be running the Great North Run in support of the wonderful charity Groundwork.

As we line up alongside 50,000 others, the race will be as much a social affair as a running race. Which makes the fact that an estimated 9 million people across the UK suffer from loneliness and social isolation all the more sobering. That’s where Groundwork can help.

It’s a community charity with a green heart. Every year it organises thousands of projects across the UK, working locally and nationally to transform the lives of the UK’s most disadvantaged communities. 

The other day we went along to see one of Groundwork’s projects in action. On a wet Thursday morning in Hackney, the team were running a craft morning where elderly local residents were restoring unwanted furniture and upcycling old fabrics. As well as giving older neighbours a way of interacting with others and having some fun, the project’s helping the local community – once refurbished, the furniture is provided to poorer people in need of it in thelocal area. And so it’s a triple-win: the charity is combating loneliness, supporting the disadvantaged and helping the environment, all at the same time.

 Any donations you can afford – no matter how small – would be hugely appreciated by the Groundwork team and the communities they support. And, of course, Octopus Giving will be matching to make it go even further.

Thanks!

Clare, Caldon, Mark and Stu