Why raise money for Barnardo's and how. Please read my story below.

On 15th July 1936 Kathleen Joyce Bundy was born in Uxbridge. At the age of 3 weeks old Kathleen was taken away from her older brother and sister and placed in the Stepney Causeway children's home, run by Barnardo's. Kathleen remained in Stepney until she was 4 years old. In 1940 Kathleen and a number of other children were evacuated out London to Horam Hall because of the second world war and Kathleen called Horam Hall her home until she was 7 years old. During this time the Matrons in the homes were the only parents that Kathleen had ever known. Then between the age of 7 and 11 she stayed with foster parents. From the age of 11 Kathleen stayed at the Barnardo's home for girls at Wembley and stayed here until she was 19. After leaving school at 16 she was given a nursing role at Barkingside Village Hospital, which was the hospital located at Barnardo's main site at Barkingside Village.

At the age of 19 Kathleen moved to Devon with the support of Barnardo's who continued to make regular visits down to see her and check on her welfare. Not long after arriving in Devon Kathleen met and later married local farmer Norman Vallance, becoming Kay Vallance. It was at this point that Barnardo's stopped direct support, but matrons who Kay considered to be her aunts regularly came to the family farm in Devon for holidays.

The significance of this is that Norman and Kay had four children the youngest of which was Rachel who became my beautiful wife. So it would be fair to say that without the support of Barnardo's Kay's life and that of my wife and I could have been very different.

This year Kay celebrated her 80th birthday and to this day she openly acknowledges that without the support of Barnardo's she does not know where she would have ended up or even if she would have survived.

In support of this great charity I am setting off on a challenge to raise £2000 for Barnardo's. This will include 3 Half Marathons, a charity auction and will culminate with a marathon.

I ran the Ruby Run Half Marathon in June and raised nearly £300. I will be running the Eden Project Half Marathon in October and the Yeovil Half Marathon in February 2017, before finishing with the London Marathon on 23rd April 2017.There are also plans for a charity auction in November.

Below are some facts about how your donation can help Barnardo's

£5 - can provide books for disadvantaged 3-5 year olds that are essential for their early learning

£10 - can pay for a healthy eating cookery session to support a young carer

£25 - can pay for toys and games at play therapy sessions to support an abused child

£50 - can allow a vulnerable child to enjoy confidence building activities such as sports, arts or drama for a day.

Although the activities carried out by Barnardo's in the modern world are very different to those provided 80 years ago to Kay there will always be a need for support to vulnerable children and there will always be a need to support the good work that is done.

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.