I'm running the Manchester Half Marathon for the amazing Wood Street Mission and here's why.

I grew up in Wythenshawe, a housing estate in Manchester that didn't seem that bad to me. We didn't even seem that badly off; I remember getting a spanky new Raleigh Grifter once, and we even had a Vic 20 at one point. There were six of us of varying ages and Mum and Dad did their very best to give us a good life, but they could never afford to buy a home, a car, or even a washing machine.

When I got older, I remembered the signs that showed there wasn't much spare cash. 'Provi' vouchers for Christmas shopping, visiting a loan company to get some cash to replace our broken hoover (the house was always very clean). But both parents worked hard, and we always felt loved. 

These were formative days, and whatever money issues my parents hid from us, plenty of families in Manchester today are coping with far worse. I've been associated with Wood Street Mission for years now, and families living in poverty are an issue that doesn't abate, doesn't 'get better'; in fact, it seems to get worse. The stories I hear are heartbreaking. And I have seen up close situations where parents will almost starve themselves to afford to feed their kids properly or work themselves to the bone to afford a Christmas present for their child. 

This is not Victorian England, this is now. 

Today. 

In 2026. 

So they need and deserve our help.

Please donate whatever you can, and I will run the streets of Manchester and, more importantly, I promise never to post another picture of me in a vest again.