I'm dusting down the old Hi-tec silver shadow from the fire service days, and putting my body through another endeavour, this time in the service of others, to run the Brighton Half Marathon on March 2, 2025, in support of the Venkat Trust. This incredible charity is dedicated to bringing education to the poor fishing village of Kovalam, near Chennai.

As you know, I love guiding and teaching young men and women around the world about emotional intelligence, leadership and resilience so they can move through the world with independence, self awareness and confidence, and this endeavour aligns with that mission just at a much foundational level, a charity focused on helping children escape from poverty.

How do we achieve this? By providing them with education. Education beats poverty, right? Give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day, teach a man to fish he can eat for a lifetime. Having already built a school and a village of 'educational excellence', this year our aim is to fund university places for some of these deserving students.

Why am I involved? One of our Men's group community ended up going out to the village for himself and ended up helping to build the school. Told us the story and boom! We're IN. Now the group of us are all in on raising money for the cause and running this together.

Your support can make a significant difference in the lives of these children, giving them hope and opportunities they deserve. All donations are gratefully received.

If you're in Brighton on the day, Rockwater Hove https://rockwater.uk/ have kindly donated their space for an after run debrief if anyone fancies a lager top.

A MASSIVE thanks.

Rick