Many of you know that both Cathy & I have both worked for Wilko's for a lot of years (too many that we care to admit in fact). However, what you may not know is that I was initially recruited as maternity cover for Sharon Middleton, who at the time, with her husband Nigel (also a Wilko employee... we do like to keep it in the family!) was expecting their daughter, Gemma.

Last year Gemma, at the age 29, was diagnosed with MND and since that time she, and those around her, have had their lives turned upside down having to make plans and continual adjustments as this cruel condition takes hold.

As a result Gemma's friends have set up a fund to raise money in order to make life a little easier for Gemma and also help her to realise some of those items off her bucket list.

While they have been busy doing this, then Gemma herself has been tirelessly raising money and awareness for the MND charity. So far she has raised in excess of £18,900!!

Please visit http://forgemma.org AND http://mndassociation.org for more details on both charities.

Therefore, Cathy and I are planning to run the New York marathon this coming November to raise money for both funds. Our aim is to raise in excess of £3000 with the money split evenly between the two. However, should you be kind enough to sponsor us then it is entirely up to you as to how you split the money.

We have covered all the costs for the trip, including our places in the race itself. Therefore, ALL monies raised will go the cause of your choosing with no deductions.

Any sponsorship for MND can obviously be given here directly to the charity. Any of you wishing to pledge support for the 'forgemma' fund then please use the path below to the crowd funding page (this is not a direct link I am afraid but sure you will all figure it out!)

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/JonandCathy-Balding

or e-mail us at:

cathy.earnshaw-balding@wilko.com or jon.balding@wilko.com to arrange an alternative means of payment. We will take cash, cheques or pledges... it all counts :-)

This is Cathy's first marathon and will be my second, albeit that was 10 years ago so we are training hard and will share our progess with you as we go.