On Sunday 24th September, I will be running the 2023 Berlin Marathon for Save the Children, a charity that is extremely close to my family's heart.

My Mum, Diana, has been actively involved with the charity for 40+ years and has served as chair of our local active branch in Helensburgh for the last 15 years. Ever since I can remember, I have witnessed my Mum's passion and never-ending hard work and desire to raise funds for Save the Children, whether through setting up events in the local community or collecting donations on the street in all the weather conditions that the West of Scotland can offer.

The Berlin Marathon in September will be my fist attempt at the distance and it has been a long standing goal of mine to complete one of the 'Big 6' Marathons in the World. The training, which I am very fortunate to be able to do in the beautiful local surroundings of Blenheim (as I currently live with my wife, Egle, in Woodstock, Oxfordshire - see the cover picture on this page for a view of the Queen's Bridge at sunset), is the hard part, but the easy part was choosing Save the Children as the charity that I want to run for in my first marathon.

Save the Children believes that every child deserves a future and, so far, it has helped over 45 million children across the world to get the medicine, food, and education they need. The charity is always on the front lines in countries affected by ongoing conflict such as Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria and Ukraine, as well as in those facing hunger crisis, such as Somalia and Ethiopia. Closer to home, some of the UK’s biggest policy breakthroughs for children, like free school meals and nursery schools, are a direct consequence of their relentless work. It is the charity's ambition that, by 2030, no child dies from preventable causes before their fifth birthday, that all children learn from a quality basic education, and violence against children is no longer tolerated.

Thank you so much for visiting my JustGiving page, your support is helping to give children across the World a brighter future. No matter the amount, every donation will make a difference.

Best wishes,

Scott