Many of you know that both Cathy & I have both worked for Wilko's for a lot of years (too many that we care to admit in fact). However, what you may not know is that I was initially recruited as maternity cover for Sharon Middleton, who at the time, with her husband Nigel (also a Wilko employee... we do like to keep it in the family!) was expecting their daughter, Gemma.

Last year Gemma, at the age 29, was diagnosed with MND and since that time she, and those around her, have had their lives turned upside down having to make plans and continual adjustments as this cruel condition takes hold.

As a result Gemma's friends have set up a fund to raise money in order to make life a little easier for Gemma and also help her to realise some of those items off her bucket list.

While they have been busy doing this, then Gemma herself has been tirelessly raising money and awareness for the MND charity. So far she has raised in excess of £18,900!

Please visit http://forgemma.org AND http://mndassociation.org for more details on both charities.

Therefore, Cathy and I are planning to run the New York marathon this coming November to raise money for both funds. Our aim is to raise in excess of £3000 with the money split evenly between the two. However, should you be kind enough to sponsor us then it is entirely up to you as to how you split the money across the two pages.

You can donate to Gemma's fund on this page and can access the fund raising page for the MND charity following the path below:

https://www.justgiving.com/JonandCathy-Balding

Alternatively you can e-mail either of us at jon.balding@wilko.com or cathy.earnshaw-balding@wilko.com to send us a pledge or arrange an alternative means of payment. We will take cash, cheques or pledges... it all counts :-)

We have covered all the costs for the trip, including our places in the race itself. Therefore, ALL monies raised will go the cause of your choosing with no deductions.

This is Cathy's first marathon and will be my second, albeit that was 10 years ago so we are training hard and will share our progess with you as we go.

We would both like to thank you in advance for your kindness and generosity. Our plan is keep everyone informed on how our training in progressing as we pound the streets of Rotherham each week so look out for our posts.

Thanks again - Jon & Cathy x