by Michael Woods

I first went to Nightingales in 2016 volunteering for Stand International, on that first trip the people and the place stole my heart. It wasn’t my first time in Romania, I had volunteered before in Oradea, also with Stand International at another project. The smiles of the young people, the energy of Adriana and Turkian, chatting to Baba will be moments that I always cherish. One special memory I will always have is being able to share my wedding with them in September 2019, my wife and I had a blessing in Romania a month after we were married in Scotland.

When I heard about the ‘virtual’ overland to Romania, I knew I wanted to get involved. I work with disadvantaged people in Scotland with Street Soccer and have seen the negative effect of not being able to exercise during the lockdown. The coaches that I work with Ross and Jamie have been walking and cycling together and with our service users to help combat the mental health issues that people have been struggling with.

On Saturday 25^th July, Ross, Jamie and I decided to climb Ben Lomond (974 m / 3196 ft) which is one of the most illustrious mountains in Scotland thanks to it’s proximity to Glasgow and it’s title of ‘Scotland’s most southerly Munro‘. On a clear day you will be rewarded with fine views of Loch Lomond and across the Scottish Highlands. Sadly we didn’t have any of that fine Scottish weather, the weather and climb almost broke us, but the thought of doing it for Nightingales got us up and down.

If you would like to support me please click on the following link for my fundraising page and help  hit my target, and help Nightingales hit their target of buying a new central heating system and covering the large heating costs for their cold winters, even colder than Scotland!

https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/MichaelWoods28

If you would like to get involved and add some miles to the total as an indvidual or with your family and friends then please click on the following link and see how you can get involved.