The Journalists’ Charity -- or The Newspaper Press Fund to give it its legal name -- started in 1864 when a group of parliamentary
journalists including Charles Dickens set up a fund to help their
colleagues and dependants who had fallen on hard times. Since then, The Journalists' Charity has assisted many elderly ex-journalists most in need with residential and nursing care, and other journalists, whatever their age, through crises in their lives. I've been a courtroom hack for 44 years, and running the first-ever Stirling marathon (also my first, and I expect, last) seemed to me to be a good way to support members of the trade less fortunate than myself. If any friends or colleagues would care to support me in this venture, I would be humbled. I fully expect to take an embarrassingly long time, but hope not to let you down by failing to reach the finish.