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On Sunday October 10th I will be running the Royal Parks Half Marathon (hopefully without stopping!) to raise  money for the Lord Mayor's Appeal 2010 on behalf of the Cricket Foundation and the London Symphony Orchestra.

Through their educational programmes - LSO's On Track and the Cricket Foundation's StreetChance supported by Barclays Spaces for Sports, both organisations work with various partners to provide dynamic musical and cricketing opportunities to young people in their schools and communities to affect positive social change in London's most challenging boroughs.

By providing opportunities to play and perform in teams and groups, Pitch Perfect will support thousands of young Londoners to develop new skills and levels of aspiration, acquire confidence and self-esteem, learn to respect themselves and each other and – regardless of their ultimate prowess as cricketers and as musicians – discover their full potential as well-rounded and productive individuals, leaders and team-players.

Find out more about the appeal at:

http://pitchperfectlondon.org

On a more personal note, as somebody who works on the StreetChance programme every day, I often get to see first-hand the fantastic impact it has had on many individuals and communities across London thanks to the exceptional work of our hard-working and dedicated coaches.

To try and help further the excellent work of both programmes, I'll be running literally miles further than I've ever run before, which, if my training is anything to go by, I'll no doubt find really, really difficult and little bit painful. Hopefully you will find my 13.1 mile struggle worth some of your finest English pounds, which I would be hugely grateful if you could donate to help continue the work of both charities for years to come - a small contribution will help us towards our goal of raising enough money to positively impact on thousands of young Londoners over the next 5 years.

Anyone who has ever talked to me about StreetChance will know how passionately I believe in what we do and how hard I will work to ensure your donations are put to good use. I can also vouch for my counterparts at LSO On Track, who share our vision and work equally hard to provide the same opportunities to young people across London through the different but similarly excellent medium of music. 

Here comes the technical bit...

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So please dig deep and donate now!