Hello and thank you for kindly taking the time to view my Justgiving page :-)

Many of you may be aware that my boyfriend, Craig ('Smudge') Smith and his army mates will be posted in Afghanistan for seven months this year :-( so  I was thinking... dangerous I know! ... that since one of the ways I intend to keep myself busy in his absence is training for a number of challenging events*, I'd partake in these activities in aid of 'Help For Heroes'** to show my support for all of the brave people who risk their lives in the line of duty.

... Whilst of course I'm hoping that Smudge and his mates will all return safe and injury-free, I still believe that any contribution that can be made to help servicemen or women like them who may be wounded in action is very worthwhile. If you feel the same and would like to show your support for them (and encouragement to me in attempting to complete the events), you can sponsor me and make a direct donation to 'Help for Heroes' via this page.

* The trio of 'challenging' events for which I have so far signed up are:

1)   the 'River Rat Race' (which involves running, swimming, kayaking, bridge-climbing and jumping into the Mighty River Tees - yikes!!) on August 29th

2)   the 10k 'Tees Pride' fun run, on September 5th, which is a warm up for the third and final event, namely...

3)   this year's 'Great North Run' on September 19th (this event is a half-marathon which I am aiming - perhaps foolishly/ optimistically - to complete in under 2 hours whilst wearing army combat gear)

** 'Help for Heroes' is a non-political, charitable organisation set up to offer support and rehabilitation to those brave British people in the army, navy and air force, who are wounded in the service of our country.

I must confess that I'm feeling rather unprepared for these events at the mo as I have, thus far, done no training for them (oopsie!) However, Smudge leaves for Afghan next week, which will no doubt give me some more motivation and I'm hoping that by setting a realistic but respectable charity fundraising target, which you may be kind enough to help me achieve, I'll find the will within me to complete these three events whilst at the same time raising some money for a very worthy cause.

Donating through this page 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 'Help for Heroes' and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a taxpayer. So if you do wish to donate to the charity it’s the most efficient way - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity, 

Thank you very much for reading, lots of love, Heather (aka 'Tig') :-) x x