Sun, sea, dogs and Queenagers

Our first ever Noon Walk - pics, report, fun!

Dear Queenagers

Just a quick post to tell you all about the fabulous first-ever Noon Walk which took place near Brighton yesterday; the sun shone, the sea sparkled and we all had a lovely time.

The genesis of the event was at the Noon Book Club with Ericka Waller (author of the fabulous Dog Days) which was inspired by walking on the beacon near the Rottingdean windmill. There a collection of people come together through their dogs and her novel was born. During the Noon Book Club Ericka invited the Noon community to come down to her locale, walk along the undercliff path and hang out at her favourite café. I suggested a spot of sea swimming (well it would be rude not to). And then some lovely ladies from a brilliant new app called trundl got in touch. Trundl is a new idea which tracks your steps when you walk, but also allows you to use those accumulated steps to give money to charity: it’s like doing a sponsored walk every time you leave your house. One of their partners is Dogs for Autism – so a lovely family (and dogs) accompanied us on the walk yesterday. If you’re interested in knowing more trundl is doing a special offer for Noon’s Queenagers –you can join up and claim it here. And please do spread the word, walking and raising money for good causes, it sounds like a win/win to us and all for less than the price of a coffee.

On top of that trundl founder Hilary Mines is an amazing Queenager entrepreneur. As we walked along by the sea yesterday she told me how much she loves Noon: “I’ve never been married, I’d have loved kids but it didn’t happen. I love your Noon Queenager research, it was the first time I realised that nearly a third of women like me don’t have kids and 40 per cent of women 45-60 are not living with a partner. I realised I am not unusual but actually pretty representative. I can’t tell you how healing and helpful that was.”

Like many women in her situation, Hil has a passion to leave a lasting legacy which is where trundl comes in. “In 2018 life was rolling along nicely, I’d just sold my second business, not for a fortune but enough to allow me a breather. I started to think about my legacy and what I would leave behind me since I hadn’t become a parent - I couldn’t get to my death bed and not be proud of something I had done.”

However, as life often does, plot twists come just went you don’t want them and a compressed spinal cord forced a pause. “Rehab was the challenge, and then another setback with a diagnosis of hip dysplasia that thwarted my love of higher hill walking and being able to jog badly (it explained why one foot goes East and one goes West though when I got the diagnosis!). However, from everything bad, there is something good. I realised that achievement in sport isn’t just about being top of the leader board, or coming first. Trundl allows everyone to win every time they go for a walk by repurposing an everyday stroll, hike or dog walk into an action to give back to charity. So that is how I think about trundl - getting everyone out into nature, getting them fitter and raising money for charity at the same time. Win.Win.Win.”

It’s such a great idea. I really hope we can all get behind her.

As for the other Queenagers on the Noon Walk, it was such a joy to see our community come together in real life. Five of us swam (it was pretty rough and cold so well done all of you!!! Definitely NOT beginner wild swimming). But most of all we sat in the sunshine in a lovely café and drank tea and coffee (and wine) and looked at the sparkling water and felt the joy of meeting new like-minded people, hanging out, chatting and hearing each other’s stories. I felt I’d made new friends – and so did they!

I got this lovely email late last night:

“Thank you so much for organising today’s walk and swim – we absolutely loved it and it has inspired us to repeat and pass on the event to others! Came home feeling like I’d been away on holiday! Until the next one!”

We’ll be running some more real-life events soon – there is of course our Noon retreat in September. And we’re thinking of an away day with an overnight to Margate with a delicious dinner and a private view of the Turner gallery. I’m thinking autumn. Anyone like the sound of that? We can either meet at the train station in London and travel down together, or in Margate. If that sounds fun email me at eleanor@inherspace.co.uk and I’ll add you to the list!

All the best and have a great week. Don’t forget this week’s Noon Book Club is this Thursday, July 30th. If you are a paid subscriber to the Queenager you can get a free book. Otherwise, you can sign up here with the code noonfriend123 for free access. We don’t just chat about the books, it’s a Queenager forum, we cover all sorts of relevant topics and answer all your questions!

All the best,

Eleanor

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Summer trundl bundle

A limited-edition offer for trundl's partners that puts extra good into a good walk with 2 months of summer trundling for £3.99.

Simply click on the link to learn more and then follow the download invitation. This is a chance to do good things for your health with every walk and also be part of a growing force for good supporting charities like Dogs for Autism, National Parks, Sussex Wildlife Trust and MOVE cancer charity.

And with encouragement from cheerful badges and great offers from brand partners that can be redeemed through the app, it's rewarding in other ways too.