Cambridge is one of the main cities in East Anglia and a full program had been scheduled for the World Harmony Runners.

World Harmony Run 14 May Cambridge:

Our first stop of the day was at the morning assembly at St John’s College School, presided over by the lovely Rosemary Mead, Head of the Junior Department. When I first spoke to her about receiving the Run I was really touched by her warmth and the emphasis she placed on the spiritual education of the children in her care. The kids looked full of happiness and energy and a few of us later agreed that if we had to go to school again we would like to go to this one!

Pierre gave a very funny intro, showing that he has a future as a stand-up comedian for the under 10’s should he get tired of running. I found myself laughing along with the children as they tried to identify the different countries the runners came from by listening to them each give a little talk in their native language. The children were very smart and even guessed that Ieva was from Latvia. Abichal from Wales seemed to be the most difficult to identify as he has no Welsh accent to speak of and even I could hardly tell it was Welsh he was speaking!

When the children were asked what Harmony was and where you could find it, they were spot on with their answers. They seemed to know that it was something you could find inside and some even said you could find it inside the heart. I’m told by the runners that this is very common and that children everywhere know much better than adults what harmony is and how important it is.

The best bit was of course when we took them outside. First we all stood in a large circle and the torch was passed from hand to hand, each person making a wish not for themselves but for someone else. Next, to the children’s joy, we made the teachers do a circuit of the playground with the torch. Then we had a short run with the children, which was clearly what they had all been waiting for.

The angelic expressions disappeared in a sudden rush of uniforms and screaming. Even our fastest boys had difficulty keeping ahead of them. Just when I was sure I was going to be trampled, Rosemary rang the bell for the start of lessons and order was established. As we left, she was kind enough to thank me. “That’s exactly the message we’re trying to get across” she said. I’m assuming she was referring to harmony and not the running chaos...

9.45 – 10.00 a.m. New Hall College:

Meeting with the Senior Tutor for the College, Dr Owen Saxton.

Dr Saxton accepts a certificate of appreciation from the World Harmony Run

Dr Saxton welcomed the runners warmly and was extremely encouraging. I definitely got the feeling he felt that the College has a special connection with the run - there was a very nice family feeling and we could see how genuinely pleased everyone was to see us. And they had laid on tea, biscuits and juices for us...!

Beautiful flowers...

11.00 Red Balloon Centre - Alternative schooling for children aged 10 - 17 who have been victims of bullying.

Warmly invited into this mid-terrace house that has been converted into a school, the Harmony runners filed into the small garden, filled with a group of young people and a teacher.

After the presentation and the song as we were leaving, Tzvetelina was so excited that she came out onto the street and ran with the runners - and kept running with us to the next function, which was about 500 yards away.

Pierre takes responsibilty for taking photos...

11.20 Unitarian Church Meeting with Reverend Andrew James Brown. Reverend Brown is a great soul committed to a liberal perspective of the spiritual life.

Wearing black leather trousers with his collar, he offered to teach us a song that included a verse that mentioned Krishna, the Buddha and the Christ.

Stefan and Pierre get in the groove...

The Reverend plays a Double Bass, and accompanied the singers as they sang. Afterwards we were invited to visit the small garden out the back of the church.

12.30 p.m.: Guildhall Meeting

Deputy Mayor, Councillor Mike Dixon,· University Head of Community Affairs Penny Wilson,·University Chaplain Revd. Christian Heycocks.

A nice group of French students ran around the city square.

1.00 p.m.: Kings College, King’s Parade

The running Porter, Ian Gray...

In action on duty...

... meeting with the porter, Ian Gray, who has been involved with the run many times before.

Interesting Cambridge architecture...

Free connection?

Kings College.

Inside Kings.

1.30pm: The World Harmony runners were invited to Newnham Croft School, where the head teacher, Jackie Jones and the students offered a very warm and enthusiastic welcome.

As we were leaving, a group sang the runners on their way.

Later that afternoon, a few minutes spare time were used to have a kick around on Parkers Peace.

Running with cubs...

6.45pm: Meeting with cub scouts.

Steve gets a lift from French World Harmony Runner Pierre.

– Abichal Watkins

Distance: 16 km

Team Members:
Ondrej Vesely (Czech Republic), Stefan Ehrenfellner (Austria), Matthias Frey (Germany), Rosta Vagner (Czech Republic), Balavan Thomas (England), Abichal Watkins (Wales), Pierre Lantuas Monfouga (France), Steve Guy, Kamilla Hozlarova (Czech Republic), Ieva Kurzemniece (Latvia), Valentine Grosjean (France)

Harmonemail:
You can send a message to the runners or read the messages.

Gallery: See more images!