My eldest daughter Tilly and I are running The London Marathon together this coming April. We have been running partners since Tilly’s little legs would carry her. Tilly is 25 I am 51, she runs a bit faster than me and will drag me along for a while, but I have the experience of marathons and hopefully that will level things out and maybe I will be the one using this experience to keep us going at the pace to get us a decent time. We do like to run not jog!

Importantly we are raising money for Oxfam, with my background in starting off selling second hand clothing on Camden Market 30 years (much of it sourced from Oxfam ) and both Tilly and I’s love of vintage, what better choice of charity is there. Tilly is also going to gift her time to designing the official running shirt for the Oxfam runners & support team.

A bit about what your donation means to Oxfam.

Poverty isn't inevitable, it's just plain wrong. That's why Oxfam fights poverty at its roots. From life-saving emergency responses to life-changing development projects and campaigning.

What Oxfam does:

• Humanitarian assistance: Oxfam responds quickly to emergencies like the Haiti earthquake, flooding in Pakistan and the East Africa Food Crisis - providing life-saving essentials like safe water and hygiene kits.
• Development: Oxfam funds long-term work that allows local people to use their own ideas and determination to fight poverty in thousands of communities worldwide.
• Campaigning: Poverty isn’t just about lack of resources. In a wealthy world it’s about bad decisions made by powerful people. Oxfam campaigns hard, putting pressure on leader’s for real lasting change.

Below are some examples of how Oxfam might use the money you donate.

£14 could buy a hygiene kit.
Simple stuff like soap, a bucket and cotton wool keeps deadly diseases like cholera at bay during emergencies.

£25 could pay for a goat.
Goats provide much needed milk to drink and sell, fertiliser for crops and kids to take to market.

£30 could buy farming tools.
Providing a farmer and their family with everything to plough, sow and harvest will help them become self-sufficient.

£50 is enough to build a latrine.
Latrines can bring dignity to families in refugee camps and can stop the spread of deadly diseases.