No child should have to collect the family’s drinking water from an open foul water drain; but, sadly, this is the reality for many young people in Sierra Leone. Barbara (who is a Water Engineer) & I have recently returned from Sierra Leone where we will, in partnership with a local charity, be funding, designing and delivering a safe water supply system to the 6,000 people who make up the rural community of Manowa in the east of the country. Of equal importance, we are doing this WITH (rather than to) the community and will help equip them with the skills to manage, administer and maintain the system to ensure its ongoing sustainability. Thanks to the generosity of the Laing Trust, the Souter Charitable Trust and others, we have already raised the vast majority of the funding. But to help raise the final part I have agreed to run the Snowdonia Mountain Marathon (the UK’s toughest marathon) in July.

Many thanks for reading this far; and I promise not to do this to you again (or run any more marathons!) in the foreseeable future. Any support you can give will be much appreciated and ALL the money raised will go direct to the project.