Lorna Bowes

Moved to Mellor in 1977 from Stafford (went from Ducks to Loves).

Junior Education - St Mary’s Mellor - Memories Mrs Edmondson and her yellow TR7.

Secondary Education - Ribblesdale High school Clitheroe - Memories a trip to France during which I drew on a teachers head whilst he slept on the coach. (All in good fun and well received, with fits of laughter for the remaining trip)

Further Education - Blackburn College studying Catering and Hospitality. - Memories Won 2 trophies. 1 for Hovis loaf and 1 for personality of the year 1983

Employment - Chef for the first 6 years of my career at The Millstone Mellor, Progressing to North Lakes Gateway Penrith as a breakfast chef. Joined Industrial Catering in 1989 as junior catering manager at Thwaites Brewery, for a contract caterer, ‘Gardner Merchant’. Continued to develop with Gardner Merchant in various roles; production manager at BAE, General services manager and area support.

Returned to Education 2000 – Completed City and guilds qualification, in teaching, whist in full time work and also with a daughter at the age of 4 (very trying times)

After qualifying, was promoted within Sodexo (formally Gardner Merchant) to Legislative skills and unit based trainer for their Education segment.

In 2001 was promoted again to Learning & Development Manager which is my current position. Specialising in Legislative training for Business managers, group training techniques, soft skills and the development of training programmes as and when the business requests.

Hobbies-

Food, (has to be one) generally wining and dining others, which I enjoy immensely.

· Shopping – having a daughter gives me a good excuse to shop (we both enjoy all day shopping trips)

· Running – I have run seriously for 4 years. My first race was in Wiltshire which was a gruelling 10k my time was 1 hour. I have since moved on and my personal best is 50 mins 15 seconds (trying desperately this year to get under 50minutes)

My most memorable races are those that take running to a new level, ‘The Cross Bay Challenge’ does what it says on the tin. 450 runners cross Morecambe Bay a total of 13.1 miles. I competed this year for the third time and each time has been totally different.

Year 1 saw temperatures of 31, a start that was delayed due to the risk of a plane landing on our route and my running partner becoming so dehydrated (due to the lack of water stations) that she was sick at the finish.

Year 2 perfect conditions well organised with plenty of Vaseline and water stations (lessons learned from year 1)

Year 3 Perfect conditions again however the previous day and night had had an awful lot of rain with heavy downfalls. There was a delay at the start (nothing usual) We hit the sands of the bay and we had a very strong tail wind which was great.

At the five mile mark you can see the runners in the distant and all was going well until my partner pointed out that there was another group of runners heading our way (head on with the wind) on a closer look you could see that the runners where turning round. When we got to the Kent estuary it was quiet evident that it was too deep to cross and so we were being instructed to head back to the start.

We battled for six miles in head on winds of 60 miles an hours and of cause with the wind came the sand storms; it’s the only race where I have seen runners beaten to a walking pace. Lines of runners also began to form so that runners at the back could shelter behind the person in front and take turns to face the sand and wind.

What an experience looking on the positive side, I managed to top up my tan before my holidays (or was it just the sand?)

I recently took part in the Great North Run and I would just like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your messages of support and also your very generous donations towards 'Maggie's Cancer Caring Centres.'

The grand total stands at £1048.00 with donations still being received.

Sunday race day, well what can I say, I really find it difficult to put into words the whole experience. I laughed (at the man running in only a thong) and I cried for the sheer commitment of all participants and supporters alike.

I also achieved a great time of 1 hour 55 minutes and 41 seconds. For those of you who may have watched the live coverage on Sunday I did have a slot of 10 seconds approaching the finish line at the 'rear' of Chris Akabusi who incidentally tried to trip me up.

What an experience, thanks again to you all for your support.

Lorna