Hi All,

In November I'm going to be swimming 5 km as part of the Marathon Swims event. Not only is this a great challenge for me, but it's also an opportunity for me to raise funds for the Participation Programme at Travelling Light Theatre Company.

I've had the privilege of being Travelling Light's Participation Director for the last year. In that time I've seen the incredible work that the organisation do for the children and families of Barton Hill and BS5 in Bristol. They run 4 weekly Youth Theatre classes for young people aged 4-19, 2 free groups for young people with additional needs, monthly free theatre trips and taster sessions for community groups as well as an extensive creative learning programme for schools and colleges. And this is just their regular activity, they also run fab summer schools and bespoke projects exploring their professional productions.

Youth Theatre costs £35 per term for participants to attend. Travelling Light keep their fees deliberately low so the widest range of families can access the service. They also provide a large number of bursaries and fully funded places, for those who need it because all children should have access to high quality arts activity no matter their family's income. They also run a lot of free activities too. You can read more about the organisation here: http://www.travellinglighttheatre.org.uk

I could wax lyrical about Travelling Light and the brilliant work they do, but instead I'm going to try and raise some money for them. I've set my target at £350, which would pay for 10 young people to access Youth Theatre for a term on an 100% bursary.

My time at Travelling Light may be coming to an end, but as I leave I want to pass on the gift of accessible arts activity to the children of Barton Hill. By swimming a long way.

So, if you can I ask you to dig deep and give what you can to support this cause.

Thanks for reading!

H x