On Saturday 27 February 21 people heroically faced the prospect of walking around Lake Vyrnwy in the cold damp drizzle. Despite the horrible conditions everyone did really well, Mum walked 3 miles, Martha cycled over a mile and Nicky did the whole circuit of the lake and even had the energy left to race Frances for the last hundred yards and win! Martin did a great job driving the support car and offering support and encouragement.

At the end of February it will be the 10th anniversary of Donald Thomas' (husband of Anne and father of Mary, Stephen, Nicola, Judith and Mike) death. He had been debilitated by MND for a number of years, so as a family we are all too aware of the effect the disease has on sufferers and those who care for them.

When Mary suggested we should to our bit to raise funds for MNDA as a way of thanking the Association for its support when Dad was alive and to mark the anniversary of Dad's death we all leapt at the chance. There are are very few effective treatments for MND and we also want to raise funds for research. So all five children, plus various other members of the family and friends (ranging in age from 84 to 2), are going to do a half marathon walk, run, cycle or crawl around Lake Vyrnwy on February 27. Not everyone will be able to go the whole distance but we will all do our best.