Hello,

My name is Gemma Peplow and I'm a reporter at the Leicester Mercury newspaper. In May, my sister and I will be trekking along the great wall of China to raise funds for the Leicester Mercury Loros Appeal.

In November, the Mercury launched the appeal to raise funds for the Loros hospice, which has helped tens of thousands of terminally ill patients during their final days. As the reporter in charge of the campaign I spoke to patients, relatives, staff and volunteers and wrote stories about the charity's work every day in the six weeks before Christmas.
In that time, the response from readers was incredible and our appeal raised more than £100,000 towards the hospice's new £2 million extension, which opened in October.
Since Christmas, the appeal has raised a further £40,000 but there is still £310,000 to collect. So now, after weeks of pleading to Mercury readers to donate and host fundraising events, I am going to do my bit.

We'll be doing the nine day China trek and it's not going to be easy so we're now going to the gym, testing out our walking boots and generally attempting to get fit! We also need to think up ways to raise lots of money for Loros.
Between us we have a minimum target of £5,300 but we'd like to raise lots more. So please sponsor us! We will be publicising any fundraising efforts in the Mercury so if you'd like to help us out by organising your own event, you can get in touch at the email address below.

Thank you!

Gemma xx

gemmapeplow@leicestermercury.co.uk