It's that time of year again - Great North Run time! At my age this might be my last run but I know I'm so lucky to be able to take part.

As the saying goes "Shy Bairns Get Nowt" -This year I'm running as part of "Team Shabbo", raising money for the British Heart Foundation in memory of Dr Fikrat Shabbo, father to Luke, our daughter Lauren's boyfriend.

This is Luke's story and our motivation for running....."As you may know, I sadly lost my Dad (Fikrat) in November 2023. What you may not know, is what an incredible life he had dedicated to fixing people’s hearts. Sadly the disease he spent his life treating is what ultimately took him from us. That’s why we want to do this run in memory of him and to hopefully raise some money to help carry on his legacy of treating heart disease.

Myself, Lauren, Alan and Julie will all be running the great north run in order to raise as much money as possible for British Heart Foundation.

The BHF has helped halve the number of people dying from heart and circulatory disease in the UK but sadly every day hundreds of people lose their lives. It's only thanks to support from people like us that the BHF can create new treatments and discover new cures. £24 could pay for two hours of research by an early career scientist, but every pound helps so please give what you can to help us hit my target. Thanks!"