Last year Luke decided he wanted to run a marathon before he's 30. As he hits the big 3-0 this August, that didn't leave much time for him to tick that off the bucket list. He inadvertently convinced me to sign up with him, and here we are, a year on, with a 26.2 mile race just around the corner.

Sometimes Luke has good ideas, and he suggested we raise money for our marathon woes. The charity we've picked is Together Co, a Brighton based charity aiming to reduce loneliness and social isolation in the local community. I've volunteered with Together Co for a few years now as part of their befriending scheme, and visit my scheme member, Linda, once a week for a chat and a cup of tea, as complex health issues means she only really gets out of the house once a week with a carer for a food shop. It's a great small charity that I've been personally involved with, so any donations big or small would be greatly appreciated.

You can read more about them below, and if you're Brighton based, they're always looking for more volunteers!

More people than ever before are lonely or social isolated. You can change that. Loneliness and social isolation are deadly. A lack of social connections is as harmful to our health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day (Holt-Lunstad, 2015). We create life-changing and life-saving connections – but we can only do so with your support.

https://togetherco.org.uk/