Author: Andrew Kemp
Wow what a turn out, I turned up to the Rocket pub in Putney at 08:30am to see it awash with Red and Blue shirts, scarfs. Palace had taken over West London.
It was whilst heading to a Palace away day that I saw a tweet about an upcoming “Walk and Talk MMH” from Craven Cottage to Selhurst Park before the Palace v Fulham game in February 2019. It sounded like a bit of fun, whilst trying to help spread an important message.
Meeting up in a local watering hole for a spot of breakfast before the walk, brought me face to face with some familiar faces, but also a number of people, that I recognised, but perhaps had not spoken to too much before. We headed over the Bridge to Craven Cottage and were given a splendid send off with a warming cup of coffee and plenty of biscuits.
Whilst it was a very fresh morning, with snow on the ground, our spirits were high as we started the 10 or so miles to South London. It soon became apparent that there were a diverse range of speeds amongst the 70 or 80 of us, as we started to stretch out as we made our way to a frozen Wimbledon Common. A brief stop in Wimbledon gave us the chance to regroup and thaw out a little!
We carried on towards Selhurst Park, with a pause at Thornton Heath to ensure that we arrived at the Fanzone in one large group. Since the Fulham game I am delighted to have been able to join Lee on three more “Walk and Talk” initiatives – and am already looking forward to the next one (especially in my role of Toffee Vodka supplier!).
It became quite apparent very early on that just being a friendly ear to listen is hugely beneficial to others – it has inspired me to enrol in a Mental Health First Aider course, so that in future, I hope that I am able to do more than just “Walk and Talk MMH”.

Andrew Kemp
@andrewjameskemp
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