Dear Friends and colleagues,

Some years ago I had a serious accident and broke my spine.
Thanks to a brilliant medical team I was bolted back together and after a
period of convalescence I was and still am able to move normally.

Every eight hours someone is paralysed by a Spinal Cord Injury and Aspire provides the essential equipment, advice, housing and grants that spinal cord injured people need to live their lives independently.

Supporting a charity that supports people with spinal injuries is not at the top of everyone’s giving list but sadly the people most affected are those who are young and most active with long and often very difficult lives ahead of them.

I have been supporting this charity for some years and the challenge for me this year is to swim the channel.  This does not involve seawater and extreme cold and rough water conditions but a voyage of 25 miles made in my local swimming pool. Consequently for the last 8 weeks I have been getting to my local pool around 6.30 am each morning and swimming 50 lengths in order to reach my goal of 1,600 lengths which is 25 miles. Some mornings it is really hard to get out of that bed at 5.30am but I am nearly there. Calais is in sight as it were and by next week my challenge will be completed.

If you do not feel able to support the charity financially please post encouragement messages to help me along and visit the Aspire
website to support their hit numbers. Anything you decide to give is really appreciated and makes me feel that my efforts have been worthwhile.

Have a great Christmas everyone.

Peter