There are people in this world that do incredible things. They change lives. They make history. They create a future for younger generations so that the world is safer, better and with greater opportunity for connection and empathy and love. My father Alan John Brooks, The Legend as he is known to those who love him most, is definitely one of them. I say “is” despite his passing a few years ago after a courageous battle against Alzheimer's because his inspiration continues.

His memory lives on through those who knew him well, and even those that met him briefly and yet remember that interaction with love and adoration, and those who benefit from the liberated and continuously-educated mindset that he taught to everyone who was fortunate enough to be in his spirited presence.

In life, he was a unique and inspired energy. He was a force. He was spectacular and absurd at the same time. He was a limitless source of joy and entertainment with an abundance of humility and grace, no matter life’s challenges. In his passing, we continue this in his name. He was a beautiful man who demonstrated to his children and family how to love, how to be loved, and how to share everything one has with as many people as one can reach through whatever channel and lifestyle is chosen. And he demonstrated this effortlessly, and probably without even realising the legacy he was leaving behind.

Alongside my father was a dedicated group of people who also do equally incredible things. They educate, they support, they provide relief and liberation to those who not only suffer Alzheimer’s disease, but also to the loved ones who endure that battle as carers and caregivers. For us this was Alzheimer’s Society.

I cannot find the cure. I am not a strong runner. But I can cover 13.1 miles to raise money for this charity so that the many wonderful people who have dedicated their lives to helping people with this insufferable disease can continue to do so.

Please help me to do that by sponsoring my Hackney Half Marathon to raise funds for Alzheimer’s Society.

With love,

Tessa Joan (& Daddy Brooks) xx