As most people who know me will know, I would rather be sat at home reading with a cat on my lap than participating in any kind of exercise, but during lockdown, I took up the Couch to 5k challenge to compensate for not even having my daily walk to and from work or around the office to keep me marginally fit. I'm now putting my new-found running capacities to genuinely good use by running the Manchester Marathon In Your Own Time for the Big Issue North Trust.

I've worked for Big Issue North since last July, and I'm so proud of the work that my colleagues do. As well as taking people from begging to working and helping them with everything from accessing accommodation, enrolling on educational courses and finding new employment to coping with practical, financial and emotional crises, they've worked incredibly hard over the past few months, firstly to support vendors while they were unable to sell, and then to support them back to work as safely and smoothly as possible.

Big Issue North is a lifeline for hundreds of people who need support now more than ever before. Please sponsor me to help my colleagues to continue their incredible work helping people to change their lives for good.