Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

On the 3rd August 2014 I will embark on a 500 mile walk on The Camino De Sanitago in Northern Spain. I will start at St Jean Pied de Port on the border between France and Spain then end in Santiago de Compostela. This will take just over 4 weeks. More info on the walk here: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camino_Francés

Doing this walk is a huge challenge personally, I have never embarked on a lengthly walking expedition before and have never taken up a solo challenge like this one. I have recently experienced a loss of a close relative who was a fighter till the end and taught me you can keep on going to the bitter end and that there is always time for smiling no matter what the situation.

Hearts & Minds is a big part of my life and I have the privilege to experience first hand how faces light up during our visits and those are the faces I will think about on my journey.

My target of £1000 Hearts & Minds will deliver 100 smiles.  Each smile and magic moment is filled with joy, laughter and much needed interactions for brave children in hospital/respite care and elderly ladies and gentlemen suffering from dementia.

Hearts & Minds brings smiles to over 14,000 sick and vulnerable individuals each year in Scotland.

Hearts & Minds produces high-quality, participatory creative experiences for unwell children and elderly people with dementia in hospital, hospice, residential and respite care.
We achieve this through two specialist arts-in-health programmes; The Clowndoctors who visit the children and The Elderflowers who interact with ladies and gentlemen who have dementia.

These performing arts activities engage the imagination of our
participants through individually tailored therapeutic artistic
interventions, improving the hospital experience and encouraging
communication, interaction and laughter.

Hearts & Minds run open and inclusive programmes, meaning they do not focus specifically on one illness or disability, and work with people of varying ages and social backgrounds.

The programmes operate nationally in care units throughout Scotland. Currently we run regular sessions at 25 units across 15 local authority regions.

We are the only organisation delivering work of this kind in Scotland.  We require over £300,000 per year to run our quality programmes and meet the demand of new units and extra visits, please help make it possible for us to bring sunshine into peoples lives.

 For more information please look at our website- http://www.heartsminds.org.uk