Fit and healthy Tom Watson joins pupils for mile challenge
It was a fresh start to the morning for MP Tom Watson as he laced up his running shoes to join primary school pupils in their daily mile challenge.
Mr Watson paid a special visit to pupils of Hargate Primary School in West Bromwich to join them for their 15-minute Daily Mile jog.
The Deputy Leader of the Labour Party and West Bromwich East MP took on several laps of the school’s large playground as part of the national scheme – known by the pupils as The Hargate Mile.
He said: “They are part of a national scheme called the Daily Mile, and it is simply that, they shake their legs, they walk, they run a mile a day which gets the adrenaline going, gets the heart pumping and helps keep you fit.
"I have lost a lot of weight recently and I am trying to do the same in my own life so I wanted to come and celebrate this national campaign and work with Hargate and the other schools across the borough to help our fitness levels improve.
“It is one of my favourite schools in the whole of the borough. It is a great school and the kids are amazing.”
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Mr Watson, who looks the picture of health after he battled his way back from 22 stone, said his ‘new mission’ as a politician is to help people tackle their unhealthy lifestyles.
He said: “You learn a lot about yourself when you are on that weight loss journey. For me, what really surprised me was that I just feel calmer and I feel like a fog was lifted from my brain.
“I started looking at the figures and realised there are probably two million people in the UK who can be liberated from their medicines like I have so I feel like it is my new mission as a politician.
“I want people to feel how I feel, I feel fantastic at the age of 51, I feel younger and fresher. I want the Government to help people take the journey that I did
Helen Penn, teacher and well-being leader, said the schoolchildren had an extra spring in their step after being joined by the MP.
She added: “They knew it was a big thing. I think they all pulled it out the big.
“I think it is really important. If we can get children being active in school, it does stay with you into adulthood.”
