Dear Friend,

You will be please to know that I have been fortunate enough to secure a place in this year’s London Marathon. In gaining this place I also have the opportunity of doing something very special in raising money for a very worthwhile cause.

I will be running the 26.2m course (just in case you had forgotten how long it is - believe me, I'm trying to!) on behalf of The Kirkwood Hospice.

Now, for most of you the first thing you will probably say is who! Well, if you can give me a few moments of your time I will give you a brief but important insight.

The hospice encompasses @ 250,000 people in the Kirklees area of , one of them being my uncle Mickie.

Before being diagnosed with cancer my uncle was actually a regular volunteer for the hospice. Having been diagnosed with cancer himself my uncle now benefits from the amazing work and support that the team at the hospice offer.

The team at have a very up beat and positive outlook and believe in maximising your potential with the time you have. They have a regular drop in session each Friday, they run courses where people can learn new skills & hobbies and offer alternative medicines such as acupuncture, reiki & aromatherapy. They also have an on site nurse and doctor to help with and answer any questions you may have about your particular cancer.

I am so grateful that my uncle has somewhere like Kirkwood to go to and I hope you may be in a position to help me help them in continuing to offer this amazing support to so many other people. Technology has made is very simple to donate, all you need to do is go to my home page and donate via a debit or credit card.

http://www.justgiving.com/Alextwentysix

Having said that if you choose not to donate please do not worry, I understand that times are hard and that you may already have your chosen charities. I am just so pleased that you have taken the time to get this far and ask that you maybe give a thought to me running/walking/crawling the marathon on Sunday 25th April 2010.

Thank you once again,

Alex