Please don't forget to click "read more" & check out the pics!!!

 

I DID IT!!!!! 4hrs 33mins & 52seconds!!!!!!!

Thank you so much to everyone for supporting me! xxx

 

Training

Long runs are going well...longest run to date is  22 mile run! Covered 18 miles last Saturday (27th March) and 17 miles last night (6th April) .  One more long run this weekend before I taper down for the final two weeks! Nerves are really starting to kick in!

Big thank you to Mark Hempsall who has been my trainer again this year! He's been great!

Fundraising

BIG thank you to everyone who helped out with the bag packing in Shoprite Douglas which raised £660.81! Also, BIG thanks to all who came to the Cosmo night (see photo's) which raised £320!!!!  Bag pack  on Saturday 3rd April in Port Erin Shoprite raised £555.46!!

 

Thanks so much to Mary Linehan and BLocal for the very kind donation of £50.00!!

My Story

On 25th April 2010 I will be running the Virgin London Marathon in aid of Help the Aged.   In order to secure my place I need to raise at least £1,500 for Help the Aged, which I am sure you will agree is very worthwhile. 

Help the Aged is a charity close to my heart.  I ran the 2009 Flora London Marathon in memory of my Nan who lost her life to Pancreatic Cancer in 2006.  With the support of friends and family I managed to exceed my pledge of £1,500 and raised a staggering £4,025!!   This year I will again be running in memory of my Nan and with special thoughts of my Grandad and of all other grandparents who are special too!

Help the Aged

Facts & Figures:

 

·         2 million pensioners in the UK live below the poverty line

·         Over half (51%) of all people aged 75 and over live alone

·         Just over 1 million older people (11%) in the UK always or often feel Lonely

·         36% of people aged 65 and over in the UK feel out of touch with the pace of modern life and 9% say they feel cut off from society

·         Nearly half of all older people (about 4.6 million) consider the television as their main form of company

·         Over 500,000 older people spent Christmas Day alone in 2006

·         12% of older people (over 1.1 million) feel trapped in their own home

·         6% of older people (nearly 600,000) leave their house once a week or less

·         Nearly 200,000 older people in the UK do not receive the help they need to get out of their house or flat

·         17% of older people have less than weekly contact with family, friends and neighbours

·         11% have less than monthly contact

·         It is estimated that up to 42,000 older people are unofficially homeless in England and Wales

·         In the UK, 11% of older people describe their quality of life as very poor, quite poor or neither good nor poor

·         Every hour, over 50 older people are neglected or abused in their own homes by family members, friends, neighbours or care workers

Funding for this very worthwhile cause helps the charity with the fight to free older people from poverty, isolation and neglect.  Achievements to date include:

 

·         Made nearly 34,000 HandyVan visits to homes to install and demonstrate safety and security products and carry out simple DIY jobs

·         Funded 920 community groups through our grants programmes, making available over £200,000 to provide Christmas meals and summer picnics to almost 54,000 older people

·         Succeeded, through the Lose the Loophole campaign, in persuading the Government to extend the Human Rights Act to protect older residents of private care homes

·         Launched The Disconnected Mind Appeal to raise the £13.5 million needed to fund this major programme of research into mental ageing and effective interventions to prevent cognitive decline

·         Campaigned against age restrictions on certain osteoporosis treatments and, working with the National Osteoporosis Society, succeeded in lowering the age restriction on the drug alendronate from 75 to 70. 

 

 

For more information: www.helptheaged.org.uk 

 

Please support Help the Aged and help me reach my goal of £1,500!

 

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please dig deep and donate now.