Please read the first paragraph and then the content below. 

I'm clearly a few sandwiches short of a full picnic and have decided to enter my first off-road cycle enduro. This is a 52km slog around the Dyfi forest, starting and ending in Machynlleth. There are some epic climbs and (hopefully) even more epic descents. The elevation change is likely to be around 5500ft/1800m.

Scratch the above!! Due to Covid the event was cancelled. So is not lost, however, as I decided to cycle up and down Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon) instead. I completed this challenge today so am asking now for you to put your hands in your pockets to support a fantastic cause - Emily's Star.

Anyone who knows me knows that I've recently been losing weight and getting fitter. What better way to polarise my progress than to climb a very tall mountain in another country? It's not going to be easy, in fact it's going to be extremely taxing for me, but I'm trying to raise a bit of cash for Emily's Star. 

If you don't know what Emily's Star is, then let me enlighten you. The charity was set up by my then work colleague and friend Katie. It's set up in memory of her daughter Emily. Emily was born with what doctors describe as a condition that is 'incompatible with life' - a preferred term is a life limiting condition - Trisomy 18. Unfortunately the prognosis is not great and Emily was with us but a short time. I was privileged to have been invited to her Christening, which was a very emotional day. The work the charity does is fantastic, please read below about their objectives:

1) To grant wishes to families who have a child or children with any life limiting or life threatening illness & are supported by a Children with Complex needs nursing team within Milton Keynes. We support children from birth until 25 years old. Our wishes are to help families make memories & we carry this out in various ways.

2) To raise awareness of Trisomy 18 also known as Edwards Syndrome, the UK's second most common syndrome.  We also wish to increase the use of the wording "life limiting" when a Trisomy 18 diagnosis is given instead of "incompatible with life"

3) To provide neonatal boxes to Milton Keynes neonatal unit, which include items for both mum and premature or underweight babies. These boxes are called "Emily's gift". We also provide Mini Packs to any baby currently in a UK Neonatal unit. These can be ordered on through our website.

Please do give what you can for this great cause!

Thanks

Simon