York 10K Fundraising Heroes - Hannah
What's your fundraising story - why did you decide to raise funds for Accessible Arts & Media?
AAM have given me the starting blocks to my career, I started out as a volunteer and placement student in 2009 with Hands and Voices and it felt like one huge family that I didn’t want to part from. You could see what the impact of Hands and Voices and the staff had on the members of the choir- it gave a safe space for the members to let their colours shine. AAM then gave me a job and I don’t think you could work for a more supportive (and crazy!) organisation. I decided it was time to give something back to the charity that has given me so much.
If you had to sum up Accessible Arts & Media in three words, what words would you choose?
Supportive, creative, gnomeilicious!
How would you describe the difference Accessible Arts & Media makes?
Through working with AAM you can see what impact the work has on the participants. I’ve seen so many different participants develop their skills, or show their personalities through the work of the artists- participants who at one point might only observe the session move on to actively engaging in the session by playing the shaker during a song; someone trusting a member of staff so that they eventually give eye contact and then have the confidence to sit in the circle and join in ; or allowing someone who has complex needs to compose their own music just through a simple point of the finger. It really is incredible the difference the projects have on the guys who come to the sessions.
How's your training going?
Very slowly! I’m not a runner, if you’ve read my fundraising page you’ll know that I have inflammatory arthritis which makes training unpredictable so I’m under no illusion that I’ll be running the whole thing! But I have been working hard at the gym and even ventured out into the big wide world for some mile long runs and I haven’t collapsed yet- so I’m feeling positive!
Do you have any top training tips for others looking to run a 10K?
Just do what you can- it’s about you getting around the course not about how fast or how far you can run. Have fun, have a walk when you need to and I might even sneak a bit of a prancing dancing unicorn in on my way around.
You can support Hannah by sponsoring her on her JustGiving page.