Left Culture Club: Events & Socials for a Radical Future

One site of special historical/political interest to keep a (very sharp) eye out for is the former grounds of Kokyo or Franklin House, in its latter days known somewhat incongruously as Battle of Britain House. Built in 1905 by Josef Conn, the house was taken over in 1920 by American shipping magnate Meyer Franklin Kline. Kline first renamed the house "Kokyo" to reflect his company's presence in Asia, followed by "Franklin House", after President Franklin D. Roosevelt. During his ownership, Kline had various ornaments from the Far East placed around the gardens, and had furniture built for the house using wood taken from the luxury cabins of his ships.

Upon the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, Kline was in America and leased the house to a mysterious German national. The unnamed German was forced to relinquish his ownership due to regulations brought in by the British government. It was then provided to the United States military to enable agents of the Office of Strategic Services (predecessor of the CIA) to be trained before embarking on sabotage missions in occupied France, its location within Copse Wood making it ideal for this purpose. The building burned down in 1984 and the grounds were allowed to return to nature after a series of unsuccessful attempts to sell the property. We'll keep an eye out anyway!

Our route will take us from West Ruislip Station on the Central Line, north over the River Pinn and into the farmlands around Bayhurst Wood, through that wood and west into Mad Bess' Wood, westward still through Copse Wood and then south around Ruislip Lido into Park Wood, for a small circular to finish before heading south back towards Ruislip town and a local pub, to be decided upon in true mass-democratic fashion on the day.

Toilets are available at West Ruislip station before heading off; the station also hosts a small coffee bar if you want to pick up last-minute some caffeine, water or snacks pre-walk.

• Distance/Time: About 9-10km for a good 3.5-4.5 hours' walk, depending on our pace
• Terrain: Mostly flat; mix of paved towpaths, dirt tracks, and moorland. Muddy patches possible—wear waterproof hiking boots if you can!
• Supplies: 2L water and some snacks - we'll stop off for a late lunch in Ruislip at the end!
• Weather: Forecast is England: bring a light rain and/or wind layer and a packable jumper (small rucksack advisable)

The data is in: London's running clubs are the trend. Glowing profiles in haute outlets like the FT paint the picture. It seems like running "crews" are everywhere these days, their ranks swelled with the KPMG lads and flexible workers drawn from London's densely-populated creative sector. The 'gram page for east London's own Your Friendly Runners, which regularly draws over 100 people on weekends, is plastered with high-end running brand collabs. And there are plenty of smaller crews dedicated to women, LGBT communities and more. So why does our capital need another one of these?

Because all of these beautiful people are out there clogging up canal towpaths and Square Mile backstreets. To whom do you turn if you want to feel the crunch of dirt beneath your feet, like running was meant to feel? Up til now, no one. That's why LCC is hitting the trail.

Humans evolved to run and sprint; no wonder then that when we do it regularly (within moderation and with plenty of rest days), our brains as well as bodies thank us. Running has recently been shown to improve neuroplasticity, heal brain damage in affected individuals, and foster better mental health including elevated mood at rest and enhanced task-switching ability. Doing all this in nature, as opposed to busy London roads dodging commuters and street cleaners, also helps deliver the well-known benefits of time spent in nature to mood, anxiety levels, cognition and memory. All these things matter a great deal in an age where burnout and exhaustion are a constant presence either in our own lives or those of the people we care about [who you should totally invite along]. It matters especially for people trying to eke out a percentage of their time and mental capacity for transformative social and political organising: the better we feel, the more we'll be able to do.

Trail running doesn't come naturally to urban environments like London, but in my own rather extensive experience putting one foot very quickly in front of the other, I've turned up a long list of local locations suitable for trail runners and trail-running hopefuls at all levels of ability, speed and experience. It won't be Yorkshire fell running, a pastime I enjoyed while living in Leeds, but with time and practice, it will set you apart from the wearers of £300 HOKAs.

In a nutshell, running is great for you and you should do it. Trail running is even better. Best of all is doing all this with a supportive group of comrades, especially one which includes knowledgeable folks who can provide some structure to what can be a puzzling sport to get started with if building up to something, like a 10k or half marathon, is your goal. Part of our running group's programming will be building a series of events aimed at building people up, slowly but surely, towards specific goals, using progressive programmes similar to the NHS's Couch to 5k system.

Enough preamble. For our inaugural meetup we'll do a quick 30-45 minute lap around the lovely Wormwood Scrubs Open Space in near-west London, situated just off the Central Line from East Acton Station. This historic piece of ancient scrubland, somewhat maligned by the carceral associations with its name (HMP Wormwood Scrubs is nearby - don't be alarmed if we zip past it, you won't be mistaken for an escapee and sniped at, this is a popular location for organised sports), is a beautiful place for a flat, easy starter run to set us off with. Most people like to run with music, and you're welcome to wear headphones, but I'll also bring a speaker along which we can use to solidify the vibe for those who want to forgo headphones.

Afterwards depending on weather we'll either chill in the park round the foresty bits for a picnic-slash-strategy session or head to a nearby pub to collaboratively discuss the next steps involved in this project. I'm flying blind organising one of these, so I definitely want to hear what people think about how we can make this the best most welcoming running group going.

Despite the best efforts of the luxury sportswear industry, running is still a pretty cheap sport to get into. All you really need are some breathable clothing and the right shoes. The shoes can be the barrier to entry. A cheap pair won't set you back too far. For this meetup folks will have to bring their own, but in future one thing I've like to make a part of this project is an element of fundraising to buy used running shoes in different sizes which we can lend out to help people get started who wouldn't be able to otherwise. LCC events will always be free, but small contributions to the running group's gear fund will always be accepted and spent responsibly. I've got some extra bits I can offer people including an armband for phones and a couple spare running windbreakers, something which could come in handy depending on the day's weather, so just message me beforehand if you'd like me to bring those along or anything else I might be able to turn up.

Take care and see you on the trails!