Hello! And thanks for looking at my fundraising page.

And, yes, that is an earlier study of me. It's when I was ... less heavy, shall we say. Which is part of the point, the main point being Musequality.

I work behind the scenes at Musequality - as a trustee and as a worker. I am unique among the trustees - I don't play a musical instrument and my singing, well, you don't want to be in earshot when I'm trying. Thanks to years of droning along as an alto at the back of the school choir, I can, very roughly, read music - if someone else starts it off and if I'm not expected to interpret it tunefully. But, like many others, I wish I had learned to play something. And I do see, clearly, the benefits it brings.

So how can I contribute to our fundraising world busk? As I'll be toiling away in the background I thought it would be a good time to try to lose weight – burning more calories as the workload increases and, with a bit of luck, recapturing the state of less heaviness seen in the photo.

Would you sponsor me to lose weight, raising money for Musequality to set up more projects? Having been born in India, I'm particularly keen to raise money for a project for street children in Goa.

I lose weight really slowly so setting a target of dropping a stone between now (15th February) until the busk is over (15th June) is just about achievable. Being sponsored, for Musequality, would really spur me on ... I'd really appreciate your encouragement!

Here’s what donations buy:
•£10 a pair of drum sticks
•£25 two music stands
•£50 two sets of violin strings or five sets of sheet music
•£100 a guitar
•£250 a violin
•£500 two trumpets
•£1,000 three alto saxophones or one oboe
•£2,500 eight clarinets or 10 xylophones
•£5,000 a teacher for one of our projects for a year
•£7,500 two pianos
•£10,000 a year's support at the Tender Talents Magnet School
•£25,000 start up costs for a medium sized project

Stop Press! As I amend this page with three weeks to go to the start of the busk, I can happily announce that ... I've lost 11lbs! I think I might just do it! Thank you to my sponsors whose donations were the encouragement I needed.