Hi all,

First can I thank you all for taking the time to have a read of my Just Giving page.

Well, I did it! Thank you all so much for your support. We had a great day, a bit tiring mind you, but so worth it, take a look through the photo's to get an idea.

I swam the mile in 35mins & 30 secs, and that included an interview at the finish line & dodging the other 200 hundred swimmers out there!!  There were over 6,000 swimmers and I am rather pleased to tell you all that I came 130th in my age & gender group!! Not bad for a pensioner!!

Thank you all so much for your donations, we are so very close to having enough for the reclining chair, and for those of you that are still thinking about it.... go on £2, it wont hurt I promise. (well not as much as I will in the morning!!!)

Many many thanks to you all once again,

Ken.xx.

As many of you will know I have now worked my final shift after 30 glorious years working for 'Her Majesty' and it was decided that I should have something to occupy myself so, what better than The Great North Swim? I thought.... Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time!!!

The swim consists of me running into a cold and murky Lake Windermere on the 13th September along with thousands of other like-minded folk, and swimming a mile or so, taking care not to get squashed by the more competitive element! As you can tell from the rather fetching photograph, I am training hard and hope to be able to do away with the water wings soon!!

But seriously folk.... the real reason for this apparent loss of rational thought is that I really want to make a small difference to the work of a most fantastic hospice that a great friend of ours works at. Willowbrook is a wonderful hopspice that is based in St helens where it serves to help those with life threatening and terminal illnesses in need of specialist care and support at the most challenging time. The care and dedication of all those involved with the hospice is second to none. This is a vocation for the people involved here, not a job. (And for those of you who know about our Pets as Therapy dogs, Willowbrook also allows a most gorgeous P.A.T dog to visit, as everything that can be done for those at Willowbrook is done).

I am sure we all know of someone touched by a terminal illness or that has had need for palliative care. My dad is one that was helped by a palliative care team after being in a coma for nearly ten weeks. And for those of you  who remember Les, my brilliant brother-in-law, who sadly died in 2001 from a grade 4 brain tumour, how can we forget the fantastic care and support given to him, especially in his final weeks, from the palliative care team.

You will see that I have put a target of £250 on my page. Obviously I hope to smash this, especially as I believe the blue-green algae are out in force in Lake Windermere at the moment and likely to play havoc with my digestive tract should I swallow the water (if you get what I'm saying!) not to mention the great probability of my getting a touch of hypothermia, and at my age the arthritis is bound to play up!! (Actually, I have postponed a knee operation so I can do this swim, now that alone HAS to be worth an extra 50p!!) Oh yes, so back to my point........

DID YOU KNOW THAT..... Willowbrook hospice costs £2.3MILLION per year to keep running,

that is the same as .....£6000 PER DAY, which equates to...... £250 PER HOUR!! The P.C.T. give 1/3rd of the money which leaves the hospice having to find the other 2/3rds. In other words £4,000  PER DAY of charitable donations.

I know times are hard for everyone with the credit crunch, but PLEASE, PLEASE CAN YOU HELP ME RAISE MY £250 TARGET just to enable this small hospice to provide the fantastic support that it does for ONE MORE HOUR?? Any more than the £250 would of course be even more fantastic. And let's face it, surely the laugh you must all have had at the photo alone at the top of the page is worth a few quid!!!

I know I have rambled on a bit, but passion is like that:)

Thanks for reading, thanks (in advance) for giving. I shall keep you all updated,

Best Wishes, Ken (aka Skycop)!!

p.s. If you don't want to donate on line I do have a paper sponsor form also, just let me know & we can do it the 'old fashioned' way!!

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.

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.