Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

My lovely Nan, Grace Whitelock, was born in 1910 and is the grand old age of 102. As a young child, I remember being fascinated by the stories the both my Nan and Granddad told me about what life was like as they grew up, how they moved from their families in Portsmouth to Brighton in the early 1930's and their experiences in the Second World War. One thing is for sure, they saw a lot of changes.

My Granddad passed away over 25 years ago and since then Grace has lived at various times with both my Mum and my Auntie and her family who cared for her with great love and affection. She now lives with them in Denton, near Newhaven in East Sussex.

Although I don't have any personal experience of caring for the elderly, what I do know is that it takes a lot of hard work, patience and dedication from those who do care for them, a mostly thankless task for which there are few rewards and ultimately only one end result.

Grace is now sadly suffering from dementia which makes everything so much harder for her and my family and as you'd expect this means that her quality of life is now not what it was.

However, the one glimmer of light are the day centres run by AGE UK in Newhaven and Peacehaven - they have been absolutely marvellous at not only bringing some sunshine into Grace's day but also giving much needed respite to my Auntie and her family.

AGE UK do a wonderful job caring for the elderly like my Nan and help to make her later years as sunny as possible, but they can't do it without support, which is why I will very proudly run this year’s Brighton Marathon for them. 

As for me, I'm petrified. Petrified to the point where I've had to enlist the help of a personal trainer to find a way of somehow getting me to the finish line. He's not a slave driver, but he's given me some kind of schedule to keep. So if you see me eating chips or drinking Guinness please stop me immediately, it means I've relapsed!!

I've done 3 half marathons, but the "real thing" is a onetime only gig!  So while I get ready for this by pounding the streets of Brighton & Hove for hours on end in the dark, wind, rain and freezing cold (you are meant to feel sorry for me now!) please think about what you could give, large or small, to help support this very worthy cause.  And yes, before you ask, I'll be sponsoring myself as well, so I'll have double the pain!

Final thanks to those who have supported me in getting ready for this (practical, moral support or just being on the finishing line) – Mum, Dad, Dan, Amy, Jess, Louis and my trainer Will. The biggest thanks going to my lovely wife Mel, mostly for putting up with me being in pain, going on about this for ages or just generally whingeing!

Thanks so much.

Simon

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