What did we talk about during the Social Chat last week? Music and acting! Emma, who’s our Herne Hill Session Manager and Social Chat host, completed a music degree and spent 20+ years in the classical music, musical, radio and TV industries before having a complete career change. She says it was a lovely surprise to find out that music and acting is a common link between our Social Chat attendees, from light opera societies (the parents of one of our regular session participants, William) and choirs (Wheels for Wellbeing’s Director, Isabelle) to film music composition and extras. You may have noticed our Instructor Phil in EastEnders recently…and when you next see Max, ask him what he’s been in as an extra!

Before the COVID-19 lockdown, on Monday mornings we’d usually see 50-90 people (cyclists and supporters alike) over the period of 3 hours coming through the gates of Herne Hill Velodrome for our cycling sessions. When we restart however, we’ll only see 18… Following Government guidelines, we’ll only be able to accommodate 6 cyclists (including supporters) per hour. It’ll be very different to what we’re used to! Emma will be starting some invite-only sessions starting on Monday 6th July, so if you haven’t been in contact with her about returning to cycling or completed a phone survey with our Senior Administrator (Aleksandra) or Fundraising Officer (Liz), please do get in touch.

Outside of planning for sessions to restart, Emma has been out cycling with her daughter Steph (below). Some of you may recognise her, as she used to volunteer at the Croydon and Herne Hill sessions. Steph, like Grant, has signed up to do the “At Home Superhero” challenge for a bit of bling. She’ll be cycling the 20km alongside Emma in chunks, rebuilding her cycling skills and stamina levels – something we know many others will have to do after shielding for so long!