Thank you for taking the time to read our story.

As people may know I am part of the Law Society at the University of Brighton. This academic year the committee have decided to start a new tradition; to choose a Charity of the Year and to spend the year hosting as many fundraising events as we can to raise as much as we can.

For the academic year 2018 - 2019, our Charity of the Year is Chestnut Tree House who are the children’s hospice for East and West Sussex, Brighton and Hove and South East Hampshire and they are caring for around 300 children and young adults from 0-19 years of age with progressive life-shortening conditions.

Some of the services provided by Chestnut Tree House include: Short breaks, crisis care and end-of-life care services 24 hours a day. Care for families after the unexpected death of a child or young person, including use of our ‘Stars’ bereavement suite where we look after children after they have died.

It costs nearly £7,000 to run the service for one day (roughly £3.5million per year, with less than 7p in the pound coming from government funding) without the kindness and generosity of you, Chestnut Tree House wouldn’t be able to provide the care services that they do. The support and care they give to the children and their families, at no cost to the family themselves, is phenomonal. They truly are amazing!

To kick off our fundraising efforts, my husband Oli and our two amazing girls - Lola and Elisa are taking part in July’s Spartan race. Oli is taking part in a challenge known as the Spartan Super which is a 13km race with over 25 obstacles; fortunately for me the kids spartan is 1.2km with a range of obstacles. I am so proud of Oli who has done amazingly well and has lost a staggering 4 stone and has been running for sometime now with the girls gladly following in his footsteps. On behalf of the Law Society we thank you for taking the time to read about our plans for raising funds for Chestnut Tree House, if you are able to donate anything we would be sincerely grateful for your generosity and support.

Natalie and team x