Updated on Nov 5th 2010 at 6:51 PM from the JustGiving API

Completed 86.4km in 6 days and now to collect more money. Thanks for your support everybody!

Updated on Oct 13th 2010 at 6:54 AM from the JustGiving API

Well the target well and truly smashed. Thanks to you all. You can still donate though! Only 10 days till the off!

Thank you to all for your tremendous support - one last push now to the finishing line!!!!

When I decided to apply to become a Foster Carer way back in 1993 little did I realise the life changing decision that I was making. I have learnt more about myself and the issues facing young people today than I ever realised. I have also faced the pain and anguish that most of the young men that I have had the privilege of looking after face on a daily basis.

During this relatively short time I have shared my life and home with over 80 young men – some for only an hour or two and others for what appears to be a lifetime. The rewards are enormous – I see quiet, shy young men arrive, often also depressed and angry, and my joy is to see them leaving walking tall and with increasing pride in themselves. Others have shared their lives with me in adulthood – both the joy and the pain they continue to face.

It is this experience that led me to decide to undertake my first and only challenge to raise money for the Fostering Network. I realise that my parents were the inspiration and support that enabled me to embark on this journey as a foster carer. It was not without some concern on their part for my welfare but I knew from the very beginning,  and throughout the good and not so good times, that I had their 100% support and encouragement. The young people that I looked after rarely have the same opportunity to benefit from the unconditional support and love that I experienced from my parents. My job has been to try to rectify that to enable these young people to resume their rightful place in society.

Having lost my parents and brother in recent years I have experienced my own personal losses which have helped me to understand and empathise more with the type of experiences that the young people that I look after have been through. It is with this in mind that I decided to embark on my challenge of a lifetime in memory of those three members of my family – especially my parents who gave me the resilience and skills to be a foster carer.

So what is my challenge? I am planning to trek 80km (50 miles) along the Great Wall of China on 22-29th October. A feat which seemed reasonable until I saw pictures of the terrain that I am going to experience! However I am already in training (hourly walks daily with the dogs is exhausting me if not them!).  Soon the regular swimming sessions begin, followed by some full day hikes – but Essex has no real hills to climb so that will have to wait until my summer holiday in the Peak District!

Why am I contacting you now you may well ask? Well if you hadn’t already guessed it is, of course, to ask for sponsorship to support my aim of raising £5000 for the Fostering Network. You will find more about this wonderful organisation in the enclosed papers and I can assure you that the work it does to support Foster Carers is second to none. We are, together, aiming to raise £100,000 to work with Foster Carers supporting some of our most damaged and needy young people throughout the UK.

My promise to you is that you will NEVER be asked by me to sponsor me for any other event! This is, as I have already said, my first and ONLY challenge to raise money, so please help me to make this a great success! My deadline to raise the money is 1 June and if you gift aid your donation it will be worth even more! Even simpler is to go to http://www.justgiving.com/James-Bond  where you can make your donation online. If you would rather send a cheque then please make it payable to The Fostering Network.