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Several years ago I started doing a little volunteer work for the Glasgow Children's Holiday Scheme - helping to clean their holiday caravans at the start and end of each season - and continue to do so to this day. This small, local charity provide holidays for children and their families within the Greater Glasgow area who, for one reason or another, are disadvantaged or socially excluded. 20% of the city's families are income deprived and one third of Glasgow's children live in poverty. For many of these children and families, it is the only holiday or break they can get - you can read more about the great work this charity does on their website:

http://www.glasgowchildrensholidayscheme.org.uk

They are solely reliant on donations and grants to fund the work that they do and being a small charity, it is hard for them to get the funding and support like some of the larger charities, so I am trying to help with their fundraising again this year. That is why I am taking part in the 3 Pistes Cycle Challenge on the 28th May - it is the highest cycling challenge in the UK, covering 102 miles in one day across the Scottish Highlands - beautiful scenery but lots of hills! You can read more about the challenge here:

http://3pistescycle.co.uk

This is my 4th year taking part in the event:

1st year took me 8hrs in near perfect conditions

2nd year took me over 9.5hrs in horrendous conditions

3rd year caught in a freak storm and it took me over 8.5hrs

You can see that this is not an easy challenge and I'm not getting any better at it - this year I hope the weather is more like the first year! My preparations have been totally inadequate - other than my 5 mile commute to work, I only started training 11 days ago and have managed 3 training rides of 20 miles, 50 miles and 52 miles. The signs were not good when I had to cut the last ride short and get a lift home from my Mum & Dad's! Despite that disheartening set-back, I paid for my entry today and have signed up for the challenge in the hope that I can raise a few pounds for this very worthwhile charity.

If you think the challenge I am taking on is worthy of a wee donation, then please help me support the Glasgow Children's Holiday Scheme so that they can continue the great work they do helping others more disadvantaged than ourselves.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.