Summary
Clare Balding walks on Hergest Ridge in Herefordshire with Dr. Kate Harding, who has a moving story to tell.
This is the second time Clare has walked with Kate. Their first ramble was around five years ago. The run-up to that recording had been stressful and Clare wasn't really up for it. She recalls - 'I was grumpy with the weather and grumpy with life. Not myself at all'.
However, when Kate and Clare started that walk, Clare realised it was what she needed most. Kate's advice about the power of mindfulness resonated strongly. It's an encounter that Clare has never forgotten.
Now, Clare is returning to Herefordshire to walk with Kate once more. However, Kate's circumstances have changed significantly. Last year, her husband killed himself. A consultant anaesthetist and specialist in intensive care, he had been suffering from crippling depression. Kate and her teenage children have, obviously, been left devastated. They had emigrated to New Zealand as a family of four. Shortly after Richard's suicide, they returned to Herefordshire, as three.
Since Richard's death, Kate has become determined to highlight the higher than average suicide rate amongst the medical profession, and would like to see a swifter process of complaint handling by the General Medical Council. This is why she's chosen to walk again with Clare; as well as to celebrate Richard's life by walking in one of the places he loved the most, Hergest Ridge, where his memorial was held.
Kate regards the openness and beauty of Herefordshire as something of a balm.
NB: If you are feeling emotionally distressed following this broadcast and would like details of organisations which offer advice and support, you can access this site: bbc.co.uk/actionline
Producer: Karen Gregor.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Before you listen to this BBC podcast, I want to tell you why I love podcasting. |
| 0:04.7 | Hi, my name's Tommy Dixon, and I make podcasts for the BBC. |
| 0:08.4 | I'm a big fan of stories, always loved a good book. |
| 0:11.4 | But when I started commuting for my first job, I discovered podcasts. |
| 0:15.4 | I was blown away by how a creative idea and the right mixture of sounds could take you into |
| 0:19.2 | a whole new world full of incredible stories. You know, the type that make you go, wow. And that kind of inspired me to |
| 0:25.2 | give it a go myself, which to cut a long story short led to a BBC training scheme and a whole |
| 0:30.0 | new career giving other people that exact same feeling. So if you want to hear amazing stories |
| 0:34.2 | that make you go wow like I did, they're just a tap or click away on BBC |
| 0:38.1 | sounds. Thank you for downloading ramblings. On today's program, Claire Balding walks with Kate Harding. |
| 0:46.3 | Kate is somebody that Claire has walked with before and Claire has never forgotten her because |
| 0:50.7 | of the impact that she made on her life. However, today on this second walk, life has |
| 0:55.7 | changed dramatically for Kate. In case you'd rather not listen, you may want to know in advance |
| 1:00.7 | that the conversation is about the loss of Kate's husband through suicide. It's grey overcast days. |
| 1:07.6 | Slightly humid and a really light breeze is just rustling the leaves above my head i've |
| 1:12.2 | come to kington which builds itself as a centre for walking it's right on the border of england and wales |
| 1:18.7 | in herifordshire and i've come here to meet a woman that i walked with five and a half years ago |
| 1:24.9 | and she's called dr kate harding and I remember it really clearly because |
| 1:29.8 | it was just at a period in my life when I was stupidly busy and I'd got to that stage where I |
| 1:37.0 | couldn't cope and I got very frustrated with the traffic getting to meet her and arrived in a |
| 1:43.1 | slightly you know anxious state of mind. |
| 1:47.0 | And she treated me as a case, I think, and said, right, I'm going to teach you mindfulness. |
... |
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