On 23 April 2017, Gareth and Louisa will be running London Marathon for Beanstalk.

A little bit about Beanstalk and why literacy matters.

Tens of thousands of children leave primary school each year unable to read and write properly.  Many of these children never catch up and struggle through secondary school.  They are four times more likely to truant and five times more likely to be excluded from school.  Around 8 million adults in the UK are illiterate. 

Beanstalk is an excellent charity that provides long term one-to-one literacy support to disadvantaged children aged between 6 and 11. This allows these children to develop the skills they need to become confident. Instilling good literacy skills and an early enjoyment of reading in children strengthens self-esteem and provides a sense of inclusion in society, as well as improving understanding, happiness and success in adult life. We are delighted to be fundraising for this great cause!

A little bit about us. 

Two Sharpe Pritchard lawyer pals, we are both equally excited and terrified to be taking part in the London Marathon! 

Let’s face facts, neither of us are natural athletes. Neither of us have ever attempted to run such a long distance before.  To date our marathon efforts have mainly focussed on relentless Game of Thrones viewing (Louisa), binge-reading Alan Partridge books (Gareth) and impressive Konditor and Cook Curly Wurly Cake consumption (both).  We have however in recent months invested heavily in running magazines, new trainers, socks, underwear and a particularly painful physio session, to put ourselves in the best possible position to start training.  If prizes were being awarded for pre-training preparation, we would sweep the board!  Now, like eager university freshers with our textbooks highlighted with an array of colour-coordinated post-it notes, we are ready to get on with some running.

Festively unfit and overweight, running the marathon will be a huge challenge for both of us.  In order to give the endeavour an added sense of “it’ll never happen”, we have used the Christmas period to bulk up to fighting weights more usually associated with heavyweight boxers, but without the six packs.  And yet it WILL happen – the unnecessary 2016 weight-gain simply adding to the sense of achievement come 23 April 2017, giving the illusion of a physical transformation more akin to those seen on a Channel 4 fly on the wall docu-tragi-comedy!

Undaunted(ish) as 2017 dawns, watch as we transform into lean mean marathon running and fundraising machines! (We can confirm that we will not be giving up Curly Wurly Cake.)

Please support us by helping us meet our fundraising target for this worthwhile cause.  Not only are we thoroughly excited by the prospect of achieving such a tremendous physical endeavour, we feel proud and privileged to be running for Beanstalk.  In charity terms, Beanstalk perhaps does not receive the headlines it deserves for the fantastic work which it does with young people in London and across the country.  It is a small organisation by comparison to many of the charities represented at the London marathon and yet it uses its limited resources to wonderful effect. 

We are both avid readers – Louisa even purports to have studied English at university (although we must assume that the course was focussed more on reading than on writing, given her penchant for typos!).  We have also both chosen a career in which reading, understanding of the written word and clarity of expression are the basic tools of our trade.  We are therefore passionate about supporting Beanstalk in its mission to work with young people and improve literacy across the UK.  Any donation which you can make to this cause will be gratefully received.

Many thanks!

Gareth and Louisa