Running for rough sleepers: Remembering George Murray
Step Forward With Lewis, Project 16:15 and Running Tales have joined forces to plan a six-hour run to raise money for rough sleepers
"I love it. Just to have the creature comforts. I've become a bit of a Star Trek fan."
That was George Murray speaking to me back in the days when I was a BBC journalist. He’d just moved into a flat, and off the streets, for the first time in 15 years.
Sadly, little more than a year after that interview took place, George died. He was just 51 years old.
George had been very well-known in Northampton, and while covering homelessness in the town I spoke to him several times.
He was softly spoken, gentle and generous with his time. He also had a serious drug addiction and had become indoctrinated into a life spent sleeping rough.
During the infamous ‘Beast from the East’ cold snap in 2018, George refused all offers of help and remained on Northampton’s streets in the freezing conditions.
It was the coronavirus pandemic which eventually persuaded George, who used to tell stories of how he had travelled the country with Manchester United’s youth sides as a talented young footballer, to seek help.
As part of the government’s ‘Everybody In’ campaign, aimed at getting rough sleepers off the streets and away from Covid-19, homeless people were moved into hotels.
George, incredibly, turned up at one of the Northampton hotels. Later, he was found his own flat.
But the life of a rough sleeper was embedded in George’s psyche, and he would return to sit on the streets of the town despite the option of a roof over his head.
The average age for a male rough sleeper in the UK is 45. George was young, but he was older than that and he had spent years on the streets. He had lived a life in the cold and wet, begging for food and battling his addiction.
Sadly, in September this year, George died. Hundreds attended his funeral. The £6,000 raised to make sure it was held was both a sign of people’s kindness and a sobering thought of what might have been done to help him if that money had been around when he was alive.
Of course, it is the job of councils and the government to help people like George. It shouldn’t be down to people’s charity.
But all too often it is, and rough sleepers up and down the country are indebted to the help of individuals or charitable bodies.
And this, dear reader, is where I start to talk about running - which after all, is the general subject of this newsletter.
One of the groups that did try to help George - both while he was alive and by organising his funeral - was Northampton rough sleeper charity, Project 16:15.
As you may know, Running Tales is an offshoot of Step Forward With Lewis, my wife Michelle’s fitness and personal trainer business.
Following George’s death, and that of several other homeless people in Northampton in recent years, we wanted to do something to help those who sleep on our streets.
Step Forward With Lewis came up with the idea of holding a run at the town’s Racecourse.
The aim is that it will last six hours, with people running for as little or as much of that time as they want.
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We spoke to Stan Robertson at Project 16:15, and with his help have now made an official application to West Northamptonshire Council for the event to take place from 8am on Saturday, May 20 next year.
It will run until 2pm that same day.
You’ll have noticed that time co-incides with the regular weekly parkrun. Don’t worry! We have spoken to its run directors already and they are onboard with the idea, with the plan to be that people taking part can incorporate their regular parkrun into this event.
The idea is people can fundraise, or give a donation, to take part with money going to Project 16:15.
There will be an aid station with food and drinks provided by Stan and the charity.
Obviously, everything is in the early planning stages. We don’t have permission as yet and there will be lots of details to come.
But we wanted people to be aware of the plan, maybe put the date in their diaries or help us to start raising awareness of it.
This will not be a race - instead, it will be a chance to run with friends, chat and think about those who are less fortunate than we are.
And to raise as much money as we possibly can - so the next George can receive the help they need.