Club Welfare Officers



BDRC is committed to providing welcoming and safe activities for all its members.

Whilst ensuring the welfare of members is everyone’s responsibility, the club has three welfare officers who take a particular interest in ensuring the wellbeing and safety of everyone at our sessions and activities.

BDRC has adopted the UK Athletics “Club Safeguarding Code of Conduct” and the associated polices and guidance to ensure any issues that arise are handled appropriately and fairly.

If a member is uncomfortable or concerned about something associated with a club activity, either in person or online, they can approach any of our Welfare Officers, or send an email to our dedicated welfare email address: [email protected]

The club has 3 welfare officers:

Richard McMahon
Katherine Bower
Jane Rymell

If you have any concerns/questions then Jane, Katherine and Richard are always happy to help.

Tips from our welfare officers on personal safety and security



  • Have a mobile phone with you when you are out running.
  • Wear high visibility/bright coloured clothing to make you visible to traffic and a running light at night.
  • Consider running in pairs/small groups. Our ‘BDRC Members Only’ Facebook page is a great way to reach out to other runners in the club.
  • Have ‘In Case of Emergency’ (ICE) information on your person (ICE tags and wristbands are easily available).
  • Make use of safety features on your technology:
    1. If you have a Garmin watch, there is the incident detection facility; click here
    2. IPhones and Apple Watches have a number of safety features you can use to get help in an emergency click here. This includes using your device as an attack alarm as well as making a call with the SOS feature, your iPhone will automatically call the local emergency number. If you’ve added emergency contacts to your phone, your iPhone will also alert them with a text message. It also sends them your current location, and for a period of time it will send updates when your location changes. click here
    3. Similar versions are also available for android phones. click here
    4. What3words App- an easy way to communicate exact locations. Runners can use it in an emergency and to help arrange meeting points with other runners. It works offline so is ideal for areas with unreliable data connection. Simply find the 3 word address for your current location on the free what3words app for iOS and Android. Share your 3 word address with the emergency services who can then coordinate a response directly to the exact location where help is needed.