Many of you will know of our daughter, Hope, who is 28 years old, and is a beacon of life, love and fun.  Karen, myself, and the boys, love her to bits, and we are so very proud of her. Hope also happens to have Down's Syndrome and severe learning difficulties, which requires her to have 24 hour supervision and support.  Hope now lives independently from us, about half an hour away, just outside Oxford, albeit she is back seeing and staying with us every couple of weeks.  She shares a house with 3 other young people, all of whom are severely autistic.  The house, and their day to day lives, is run by Styleacre, a wonderful charity which supports 288 people like Hope, all over Oxford.  Their vision is;

To work with others to create communities where people with learning disabilities and Autism are valued as equals and given every opportunity to fulfil their potential and live the life they choose.

This is exactly what they have been providing for Hope for the past 7 years, and as a result, she is living the most wonderful life, being her own person, developing and growing every day.  They enable her to take pride in her daily chores of cooking, cleaning, shopping and going to the bank, as well as having great fun at clubs, the cinema, theatre, restaurants, and keeping herself fit at the gym, and working on a farm.  They employ the most wonderfully skilled, loyal and caring staff, who not only take such great care of Hope, but also become her best friends. 

We can never thank styleacre and their people enough, but it would be great if we could raise a few pounds to enable them to continue, and hopefully extend their great work.

I am going to do everything I can to run the half marathon in under 2 hours, on these little old legs, and my son Patrick will be going a little faster! If you could support our efforts by contributing whatever you can to these wonderful people, we would be so grateful.  Hope will of course be there, hopefully cheering her old dad over the line!

Many thanks

Pete