Jo Moseley had a mid-life crisis in Tesco. She remembers exactly where she broke down in tears, opposite the shelf of chocolate Hobnobs. A 50-something single parent with teenage sons and poorly parents, she felt overwhelmed and unable to cope, until a friend suggested that exercise – any exercise – would help.

And from an indoor rowing-machine challenge, Jo moved on to the then-fledgling sport of paddle-boarding, decided to paddle from coast to coast across the country, and is now a bestselling author, award winning film maker, and inspirational speaker.

She certainly inspired our visitors at our monthly book club with her emotionally honest and very frank story, which was also very funny and self deprecating. Jo is now writing a book about paddleboarding in the Lake District, a follow-up to Stand-Up Paddle-Boarding in Great Britain.

She says her aim is to share the joy of ageing well, adventure and solo travel, courage and fresh starts as we get older and making a difference in the world.  

Jo raised money for the charities 2MinuteBeachClean and The Wave Project- and picked up litter along the way – when she paddled 162 miles coast to coast. And earlier she had rowed a million metres and a marathon for Macmillan Cancer Support, as well as climbing the height of Everest in a month in her backyard for the Skipton foodbank.

She’s an ambassador for Seaful Charity and Patron of The National Women’s Register. She also writes a quarterly column for SUP Mag UK called Paddleboarding for Good. 

Our book club doesn’t require membership, and there’s no fee. Just come along and listen to inspiring authors. Our next guest speaker on Weds Dec 6 (at 7pm) is the artist Liz Wakelin who has just published a beautiful book, Sketching a Year in Lakeland. We hope you will all come and meet her, and have a Christmas celebration with us.

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