Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

As you may be aware, I love to take on an annual challenge and my choice for 2022 is The Great North Run – Half Marathon.

It is the largest Half Marathon in the world, it is 21kms and attracts some 57,000 runners. So make no mistake – this is quite a culture shock for someone like myself whose comfort zone is running 5k with approx. 200 others at the local Parkrun on a Saturday morning!

However, I am pleased to report that my training has been in progress over the last four months, and I am really looking forward to pushing my boundaries – with a fair wind and following seas I WILL cross that finishing line!

My chosen charity for the run is Nature’s SAFE www.natures-safe.com

Nature’s SAFE is a Living Biobank dedicated to animals threatened with extinction and is home to some of the planet’s most precious natural resources. Its charitable mission is to save animals from extinction by collecting, indefinitely storing, and regenerating reproductive cells and cell lines from endangered animal species. The Living Biobank began its work in late 2020, and acts as an insurance policy for rare, and threatened animals, so they can be protected for generations to come.

The UN has recently announced that there are a million species at risk of extinction. This decline in biodiversity is threatening our own survival. Nature’s SAFE is the animal equivalent to the Millennium Seed Bank. By cryopreserving cells in such a way that maintains cell viability, once thawed, cells be used for cell culture or directly in assisted reproductive technologies to produce pregnancies.

Too often we see ourselves as separate from nature - we say we are ‘stuck in traffic’ rather than realising we are traffic. But we are biodiversity. We need biodiversity. And biodiversity needs us. Now.

As Founder and Chair of Nature’s SAFE I am proud to be part of such a vital charity which can safeguard these endangered animal populations for future generations and to realise its vision of a healthy planet. With your help, we can create a future and a legacy we can all be proud of.

Wish me a safe run and please give whatever you can spare to this worthy charity, however small the amount – it will be greatly appreciated.

THANK YOU!