What do you think when you hear the name Tony Blair? One thing's for certain: the man divides opinion. As the architect of New Labour and its foreign policy he will undoubtably be remembered for one reason or another, but whether you were an ardent supporter or an outright opponent, wouldn't it be nice to get something back from Blair? Well now's your chance: If we can raise 500 quid for a children's charity, Tony's pledged to give us 500 more!

The Tony Blair Sport Foundation, although it bears his name, is in fact little to do with Tony and everything to do with helping kids in the North East. It "invests in local people, inspiring them to make the most of themselves through sport", increasing "participation in sport by young people, particularly those who are currently socially excluded." Basically, it gives kids opportunities that they wouldn't normally have, including good sporting facilities and coaching, and this year I'm running the Great North Run to raise money for it..

Getting people active is never a bad thing, especially in this XBox age where our region leads the way in childhood obesity and teenage pregnancy, but much of the work that this charity does is also dedicated to providing a focus for young people whose lives are lacking direction. How many athletes have you heard speaking about the redemptive quality of sport, and how different their lives would have been without it? Amir Khan, for example, considers boxing to be his escape from the streets, and has donated £1 million of his own cash on opening the Gloves Community Centre and boxing gym in Bolton for this very reason: the sad truth is that a lot of young people these days feel alienated by society and there is often little opportunity for them to pursue constructive goals. The impending London Olympics provide some extra motivation, and hopefully some of these kids can make use of the facilities which are increasingly available through schemes like this one to try and emulate our region's recent sporting heroes such as Tony Jeffries.

If you can give an amount, no matter how great or small, you'll be helping these young people and the health of our region in general, and you won't even have to pull on your trainers! Instead, I'll do all the sweating, getting blistered feet etc, and together we can hopefully get some cash back from Blair. I hear he's doing very nicely on the after dinner circuit in America, and I would personally love to take five hundred of those pounds and put them in the hands of young people who can use them positively. Thanks very much for reading this far; your help is greatly appreciated.

Kev

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