Hi, I’m Dougie Jackson. These days - at the age of 54 - there isn’t much that gets me annoyed or upset. However, after nearly a decade of austerity and constant funding cutbacks in education, I reckon it’s high time for us to help children and teachers at primary schools in underprivileged areas of Scotland. That’s why I’ve released some of the money from my pension pot (they let you do that when you're as old as me!) to set up a charity called Primary Concern, with the help of my lawyers at Brodies in Glasgow and the folks at OSCR .

Primary Concern will generate much-needed cash via a series of year-round sports/entertainment events (click here to see our campaign agenda ) with "Bike, Hike and Mic USA" acting as our inaugural "50-day fundraiser". Like the Primary Concern set-up costs, Producer Hannah (yes, she's my daughter) and I will be funding every aspect of the US project from our own savings and we've offset the trip's CO2 footprint via a myclimate.org project in Kenya. Every penny raised from "Bike, Hike & Mic USA" will go to charity. Please support our efforts as we:

You'll hear everything, as it happens, via a series of live radio shows broadcast from the USA on Central FM as we take on the challenges, raise the money and - fingers' crossed - beat the countdown clock at bikehikeandmic.com . Also, you can follow the project's progress on social media via our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram feeds.

But that's not all!

It’s not just Scottish school kids and their teachers that we’ll be helping with the "Bike Hike and Mic USA" project... Hannah and I will also be throwing our fundraising weight behind Central FM’s Charity Partner 2019. Thirty per cent of the cash raised from this Just Giving page will go to the folks at Strathcarron Hospice.

So please, help us help two great causes by donating whatever you can afford to "Bike Hike and Mic USA". Thank you!