Today our WHR Team went to Cambridge. Although the route for the WHR 2010 did not go through Cambridge, we wanted to pay a visit to Cambridge for local meetings and events.

Thousands of children, the Mayor and, last but not least, King's College turned the visit into a tremendous success!

The weather prediction was for rain, but you cannot believe the weather reports nowadays, so we were not surprised when early in the morning the sun was shining!

So we went with enthusiasm to the first school, the Spinney Primary School.

The Cherry Hinton Church of England Infants School was next. As the children were really young, we could not do the country guessing game, but the children greeted us in various languages. This week was Portuguese week - Ola!

...and "High Fives", but quite low...

 

...and off to the next school...

...what's going on here?

At Newnham Croft Primary School the children welcomed us in the gym...

...soon we went to the sports field and everybody put a wish into the torch!

..let's run!

The head teacher, Mrs Jacky Jones accepts a certificate of appreciation from the run.

It wasn't even lunchtime yet and already it was time for our 4th meeting: with Tony Juniper, an environmental campaigner, author and journalist who is now the Green Party candidate in Cambridge. We were very warmly welcomed by Tony and his colleagues, one of whom is Michelle Engelsman, an Olympic swimmer!

Next we set off for Anglia Ruskin University. We were treated to a great lunch in the cafeteria and we met briefly with some students and staff. Many thanks to Chris Kemp who looked after us extremely well and made everything go smoothly.

We continued on to St. Matthew's Primary School.

after "High Fives" with 400 kids, hands were burning...

Two children from each class were chosen to carry the torch around the school grounds...

...our team could not catch up with them...

...a new friend from Saudi Arabia...

St. Laurence's Roman Catholic Primary School was the last school for the day!

Despite the weather - yes, it had started raining in the meantime - the children enthusiastically passed the torch on the playground.

...Finally a relay run was spontaneously organised and even the teachers participated!

 

What would a visit to Cambridge be without going to one of the world's most famous universities?

...we were invited to visit the historic grounds of King's College.

...and its beautiful and famous chapel!

...a short symbolic run around the College grounds...

..and finally a group picture along with Ian Gray, one of the Lodge Porters at the College.

...it's great to have the map of the World Harmony Run route on the van, so people see where we have been and where we are going next.

...from King's College we went straight to the Guildhall, where we were welcomed by the Mayor of Cambridge, Councillor Russ McPherson.

The Mayor and his wife spontaneously decided to carry the torch around the historic market square!

Back at the Guildhall we were delighted to honour Dr Carrie Herbert with the Torch-Bearer Award. Dr Herbert is the founder and Director of the Red Balloon, which runs learning centres for children who have been severely bullied at school. The Red Balloon Learner Centres give children back a sense of community, and also a place to continue their education. We visited the Cambridge centre in 2008 and we were very moved and impressed by the work being done there.

...Cambridge's"family silver"...

...thanks to Sarada and the other Cambridge organisers for their great work!

Finally, we have a group photograph with everyone, including Emma Wenborn who is the Community Affairs Officer at Cambridge University

..we had a brief television interview...

...and a photograph with the interviewers....

Finally we said a big "Thank You" to Travelodge for supporting the WHR in Cambridge!

– Sharada

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Team Members:
Dipavajan Renner (Austria), Apaguha Vesely (Czech Republic), Roos de Waart (Netherlands), Zoltan Theobald (Hungary), Kastura Panenkova (Russian Federation), Enyi Juarez (Guatemala), Iwona Buczkowska (Poland), Luis Angel (Guatemala), Chahida Hammerl (Iceland), Balavan Thomas (England)

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

Gallery: See more images!

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