As if running marathons, traipsing through the streets of London dressed as gorillas and troglodytes, and wading through mud up hill and down dale wasn’t enough for us, we’ve signed up for our biggest challenge yet – a 10-day trek through the Himalayas.  A bigger challenge still for Andrew seeing as he’s the only boy taking part. We're doing it for serious reasons - of course - not just for fun, and we need your help.

We're raising money for the White Ribbon Alliance (WRA), a global charity working towards change to make pregnancy and childbirth safe for women and newborns around the world.

We've just celebrated the arrival of our gorgeous nephew, Will, a bouncing bundle of loveliness (albeit a noisy and occasionally sicky bundle!) – access to good healthcare meant that mum and baby were just fine and the family could celebrate the happy event, as all families should, yet we contemplate with sadness the position of many families around the world who are not so fortunate.

Every day, women die needlessly in pregnancy and childbirth. The vast majority of these deaths could be easily prevented with access to the right healthcare. Safe motherhood should be a basic human right for every woman, regardless of geography - so how can it be that a woman in Niger has a 1 in 7 lifetime risk of maternal death, yet in Ireland, that figure is 1 in 47,600? In many parts of the world, what should be the happiest day of a family's life also carries a serious risk that it will be the saddest.

Maternal health is not just about the basic human rights of mother and child, entire families are devastated when the life of a mother or child is lost - it’s about fathers, sisters, brothers and grandparents too. Your donation is important, no amount is too small – so please dig deep, you could help save lives and make a difference to families world over.

 Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - we raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.