As you may know my Dad suffered a stroke in May whilst on a train between Munich and Stuttgart following a river cruise holiday.

After 5 weeks in an ICU near Stuttgart, Bill was airlifted home to the care of the ICU and then the stroke unit in my home town of Southampton. He’s had to go back into ICU recently after a second stroke but his family all hope he’ll recover and get back to rehabilitation and hopefully home.

A good friend of mine Luke Webster cast out a little while ago for some ideas for a charity that would benefit from him slogging around another marathon course. He's very kindly agreed to dedicate his efforts at the forthcoming Berlin Marathon on 29 September to raise funds for the Stroke Association. The following weekend (6 October) I'm walking the Clarendon Marathon between Salisbury and Winchester - my knees don't like me running much any more!

We would appreciate anything you could do over the next couple of weeks ahead of Luke's run and my walk to donate to the Stroke Association and help people like my Dad recover and live the best lives they can.