Story
“On 29th May I will be running the London Vitality 10,000 for a charity I have been involved with for many years, the Octavia Foundation.
The Octavia Foundation supports people in central and west London affected by ill health, social isolation, low income or unemployment. I want to support their youth club BASE in North Kensington (surprisingly one of the most deprived areas in London), which is an energetic and creative space that supports children and young people from all walks of life.
BASE @ the Reed will be a new creative space for young people to develop their skills, make new friends and have fun! I want my friends and family to raise as much as we can for BASE @ the Reed to provide state of the art digital media equipment, allowing the young people the opportunity to develop their creativity. Unfortunately such equipment does not come cheap. The Foundation has however been very successful in the past in training young people in this area.
I have been involved with the Octavia “family” for some 35 years, originally with the Housing Association, 18 as vice chairman and five as chairman, having been instrumental in achieving a merger with another local association to create one of the most respected associations in the area. I then served for nine on the Foundation board which now helps over 2,000 people, young and old, every year.
To make your donation more interesting, I am offering a bottle of champagne to the person who guesses my time most accurately. Put your time in the comments box when you make your donation. Don’t get too carried away though, I have just celebrated my 75th birthday”