Back in December 2019, Dad showed me an article in the Ilkley Gazette about Zip the Cow – a 270m zip-wire down the moors off the top of the Cow to raise funds for Sue Ryder.

I first came across the Sue Ryder charity when they opened a shop at the bottom of Cowpasture Road where we lived. I'd pop in to buy clothes and books (and would still do if lockdown hadn’t resulted in its closure).

I was away when Sue Ryder herself visited to sign copies of her book 'Child of My Love' so I asked Mum to get one for me.  It sat on my shelf for many years before I read the inspirational story of a remarkable woman.  She volunteered with the Special Operations Executive in WWII, did relief work in Poland, prison visiting in France and Germany, negotiated releases and set up homes for survivors from concentration camps whom she called 'The boys'.  She then moved into providing nursing care for the elderly and disabled, setting up 80 homes.  The Sue Ryder charity now provides free end-of-life care in their hospices and in people’s homes.

So when I heard about Zip the Cow I signed up straight away, just to support this good cause, not knowing that Dad’s cancer had been pronounced terminal and he was already under the care of a specialist end-of-life Sue Ryder nurse. He died in April 2020.  The wonderful Palliative Care and District Nurses from Airedale enabled him to stay at home as he wished, but otherwise he would have ended his days in the Sue Ryder hospice I’m raising money for.

The whole event got postponed for a year due to government restrictions but is (God willing) on again on 24th July 2021.

To those of you who will sponsor me for this wonderful charity, and those who gave money last year

THANK YOU.