Alice was my wonderful younger daughter. She might have survived back in 2016 if she had known more about the dangers of coercive control and stalking and gone to the police sooner. Or if we, her family, had known more about stalking ourselves and encouraged her to seek help rather than just expecting that her ex would sooner or later lose interest and move on. Or indeed if the police responders had known more about stalking and reacted in the right way when Alice did eventually reach out to them.

We don't want what happened to Alice to keep happening to others. That's why it's so important our Trust continues to spread its message as widely as possible, especially among young people, as well as among the police and other professionals.

Alice was 24 when she was murdered. Ever since we launched our "24 for Alice" Challenge to raise funds for the Alice Ruggles Trust during lockdown, I've been mulling over what do for my own personal challenge. Others have come up with such wonderful ideas—running 24 km, swimming 1 km every day for 24 days, biking 24 miles a week for 24 weeks, losing 24 lbs, reading 24 books, uploading 24 tic-tocs... How could I match any of that? The idea suddenly came to me while I was out walking during lockdown -- a 24-hour walk!

As I'm currently co-writing a book about Stonehenge for Historic England, I decided the ideal place and time to do this (covid regulations permitting) would be around the Stonehenge area on June 20-21, taking in the summer solstice sunrise. My co-author Amanda Chadburn and other friends and colleagues from Historic England and English Heritage, together with family and friends, have already promised to join me on some stretches to urge me along (and also, I hope, to keep me well supplied with small talk and refreshments!).  

As for the Trust, we're in this for the long haul, but we will bring stalking to an end. Please help us by sponsoring me and also passing this message on to your friends. Thank you so much!