At the beginning of February, I will be raising funds for the John Thornton Young Achievers Foundation (JTYAF), by having 7 inches cut off of my hair. Those of you who know me will appreciate how much I love having long hair, even getting a few inches off of the ends is an ordeal! Along with raising funds for the JTYAF, I will be donating my hair to the Little Princess Trust, a charity that provides real hair wigs to children and young people.

I am a Flight Sergeant at 871 (Penn) Squadron Air Cadets and am taking part in the Air Cadet Junior Leaders Course. This course is supported by the JTYAF.

The John Thornton Young Achievers Foundation is a charity that supports young people from a wide range of youth organisations, providing them with scholarships and bursaries to support their personal development and the pursuit of their ambitions.

The foundations key values are; Courage, Determination, Unselfishness and Cheerfulness, in adversity.

JTYAF honours the life of LT John Thornton Royal Marine, who was tragically killed on the 30^th March 2008 in Southern Afghanistan. John was a cadet himself and achieved the rank of Cadet Warrant Officer, before leaving the corps in 2004 to join the Royal Marines. During his time as a cadet he was a student on the challenging Air Cadet Junior Leaders Course. On completion of the course he was awarded Top Student. After this he was invited to become an instructor on the course, inspiring other cadets to succeed on what has become known as the Air Cadet Organisations toughest course.

The aim of the John Thornton Young Achievers foundation is to encourage and assist young people to ‘climb as high as they can dream’.

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

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.