Hey Folks.. I don't want much; just a small bit of your money for a massively needed cause. I'm raising as much money as I can after a friend of ours died prematurely last year.

Lisa Pollard was a wonderful, passionate, hilarious, irreverent and talented woman. She was mother to three and friend to many, including to my wife Caroline with whom she worked on many Community Plays at the Queen's Theatre, Hornchurch. Lisa died tragically young in her forties, to a rare strain of cancer.  The support amongst her friends and family still continues on Facebook via the group, "Having Fun at the Oncology Unit" (set up by Lisa to share her news) and which now supports others who are suffering from cancer, sending positive vibes, posting the Song of the Day and sharing memories of Lisa across the internet on a daily basis.

I thought a great way to honour her life and also try to help the countless others affected by this terrible disease, would be to ride my bike a long way in a short period of time. So to this end, I have decided to put my year of training to the test by riding 300 odd miles on 3 different days throughout the summer. On the 10th of May, I plan to ride 102 miles through the softly un-undulating terrain of the Suffolk countryside. This will be the first century I've done and will warm me up for the other two monsters. These will take place in N.Wales covering 92 miles and N. Derbyshire covering 102, amassing in total 16,000ft of climbing. I will not be pootling. I plan to do them as quickly as I can, aiming to cover each 100 in less than 6 hours. I just finished a warm up event this weekend in South Derbyshire of 53 (gently undulating) miles in just over 3 hours so I'm on the right track.

As I'm sure you are aware, cancer will affect virtually all of us in some way throughout our lives. Peter, my father-in-law has just undergone treatment for prostate cancer. The treatment of the disease has come on hugely over the last couple of decades, but the tools with which we have to deal with it are still very blunt. On the plus side, cancer is no longer always the death sentence that it used to be but if you are unlucky enough to be affected by one of the rarer strains or your diagnosis comes too late, then it can be incredibly difficult to beat.

I know many of you are asked repeatedly to donate to this or that charity but if it wasn't for people's donations then Macmillan would never have made the progress they have. There is still a huge way to go but your contributions if you can find a few quid to do so WILL make a difference and help continue the momentum to find a way to be beat this awful disease.

Two years ago  I managed to raise just under £1500 for another charity that is particularly close to my heart: Cerebra. This is a perfect opportunity for those of you that wanted to support me but didn't quite get round to it to help a really necessary and essential organisation. Please have a think and see if you can find some money to help.

Thank you.

Angus