Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

Coming from a Military family (my father was in the Royal Air Force) I understand some of the pressures on family life whilst the serving member is away from home, often in dangerous situations. Thankfully my father was never in a frontline situation. He did do a tour of duty in the Falklands post-conflict, did extended hours of duty during both the Falklands and the first Iraq/Kuwait conflicts, and served in Northern Ireland during the time of the Peace Agreement in the mid 1990s. I will never forget the poignency of going to the RAF Brize Norton air show in 1982 and one of the canopies that should have had a fighter plane in was empty with a sign saying "Gone South for Summer".

I currently have a sister-in-law serving with the Royal Air Force in Afghanistan. She is training the Afghan Police. Recent news of suicide bombs in Kabul were rather too close for comfort :-/

The Army Benevolent Fund - The Soldier's Charity - provides lifetime help and support for wounded personnel and their families, and for those who have lost a loved one. They give so much. Captain James Philippson of the 7 Parachute Regiment Royal Horse Artillery gave everything. He died in June 2006 in Afghanistan, one of the first to lose his life there. He was a former pupil of St Columba's College, St Albans and his name has been added to the Park Street War Memorial. I have the privilege in running with his name on my t-shirt.

The little I give in effort training and running on the day is not much, but I hope that with your support I can raise some money to help soldiers and families in need.

 

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.

Thank you,

Natalie xx