Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

As you will know, Megan and Lucy were both born with a cleft lip and palate. They have had many operations, and have had hearing problems and have needed speech therapy. They are both treated by amazing teams of cleft specialists, Megan at Great Ormond Street, and Lucy at Salisbury Hospital. However, these teams have limited resources, and charities such as CLAPA help bridge the gap in funding, by supporting research and providing services to help children and adults with clefts. Megan has recently attended a bushcraft day and a weekend residential organised by CLAPA, and come away from these feeling better about herself and feeling a little less different. I'd therefore like to give something back to the charity, as well as help with raising awareness about clefts - May 6-14th is CLAPA's awareness week.

I've somewhat foolishly, (and admittedly under the influence of a glass of wine), decided that I will, along with other CLAPA supporters, abseil down the Orbit tower in the Olympic Park on Saturday 20th May. I'm not good with heights. I've realised that 80 metres is higher than the 200ft distillation column I once had to climb up, and I didn't like that much. At all. At least I'll have  a harness on this time. I'm hoping that you'll sponsor me to make sure I can't back out at the last minute!

The girls will also be doing their own bit of awareness- and fund-raising during the week of 6th May, and hopefully joining in a 3km sponsored walk around the Olympic Park on the 20th. With their agreement, I'll set up a separate page for their fundraising efforts.

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.