During January 2012, the Property Finance team took it upon itself to walk the 26.2 miles from Trafalgar Square to Welwyn Garden City. In addition to becoming severely dehydrated and acquiring a remarkable collection of blisters, we managed to raise £7,000 for Tesco's Charity of the Year, Alzheimer’s Society and Alzheimer Scotland, a feat which made the entire ordeal more than worthwhile.

This year, we are GOING THE EXTRA MILE - quite literally, in fact! - and plan to walk 27.2 miles from the centre of Richmond to the O2 in Greenwich.

Having already upped the ante in one regard, we thought it only sensible to increase our fundraising goal as well, so we're aiming to raise a whopping £8,000 for Cancer Research UK this time around. It's a truly splendid cause, involving a group of dedicated individuals who are eager to give cancer the thrashing it so richly deserves, and we hope you'll play a part by pledging financial support to our quest.

This is likely to be a 12-hour endeavour, and we have every intention of seeing it through, come wind, rain or snow! Your support will help us to keep going, so PLEASE DONATE anything you can.

Here's the small print:

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are completely safe, as JustGiving will never never sell them on or use them to send you unwanted e-mails. Once you donate, they’ll pass your money directly to the charity and ensure that Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation made by a UK taxpayer. Simply put, it’s the most efficient way to get involved - we raise more funds, while saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

Please dig deep and donate at some point between now and January 24, the date of the walkathon. Every little helps.

Thanks for reading.