I have been given a fantastic opportunity this year to raise money for the incredible charity, the "Southend Blind Welfare Organisation", by running the London Marathon. This charity depends entirely on voluntary donations to provide services and specialist equipment to blind and visually impaired people in the community.

Personally, this charity means a huge amount to me. My best pal (since school) is registered blind. He's on the left in his wedding photo above, I'm the best man on the right. Many people like my pal depend on specialist equipment provided by the Charity I am raising money for, to aid their day to day lives. The money you kindly donate to this cause will go towards the cost of providing these services and specialist equipment.

My pal left his job in retail over a year ago to volunteer his time to this Charity. He is now part of the fundraising team and asked me last year if I could raise money on their behalf as he knew that I had just started running. So here I am - it had to be the London Marathon, a distance I'm very unfamiliar with!

Thank you for reading and thank you even more if you are able to donate. The lonely 20 mile training runs each Sunday away from the family will be all the more worthwhile!

Thank you,

Lee