After too many years of just thinking about doing a Marathon, this year the thought processes have been converted into action and I am registered for both the Brighton Half Marathon on the 21st of February and the full Brighton Marathon on the 18th April. You get the chance to sponsor me for two events not just the one and I get the chance to prove that a pair of knees with a combined age of slightly more than 100 years, are still able to cover 26 miles between sunrise and sunset (or, as I have put on the entry form, around four and a half hours).

We all get the chance to raise money for a very worthy cause - The Sick Children's Trust - founded in 1982 by two paediatric specialists who believed that having parents on hand during hospital treatment was beneficial to a child's recovery. The Trust now has seven 'Homes from Home' at major hospitals around the country - each of them provides comfortable accomodation for families with seriously ill children. There is a growing demand for 'Homes from Home' as children increasingly travel long distances to the specialist treatment hospitals.

The Trust needs to raise £800,000 every year to keep the seven homes open, which works out at slightly more than £300 per home per day. If I can raise £5000, I can keep a home going for more than a fortnight; £9000 means a whole month of support.

Help me to help them. Thank you for your support

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