This started as a personal goal to lose lockdown weight and get back my active lifestyle. I took part in a July stepping challenge and really enjoyed my walks and getting my neat up and that was when I discovered the End to End Lands End to John O' Groats Virtual Run challenge (874 miles). I decided to enter so I could keep my motivation for walks during the summer holidays and beyond.

There are various challenges like this you can do for charity, but I decided to join this one which isn't for any charity, and find one I could fundraise for myself. I've struggled to find one as there are so many causes to help, especially in these Covid times. 

I then decided that I would choose a new charity for every 100 miles I complete, whilst keeping all fundraising pages open throughout what I anticipate to be a long challenge (I'm aiming for 9 months instead of the given 12).

So my second charity is the Manchester Deaf Centre. I'm currently right at the end of my Level 2 BSL qualification, and during the 2 years I've spent studying sign, I've learnt a little about the deaf community, and how easy it is that any one of us could go deaf at any given time. Imagine losing your hearing one day and not being able to communicate with your loved ones.

The Manchester Deaf Centre support deaf people in Manchester to find jobs, friends, hobbies, a place to go and find their identity within the deaf community, as well as providing training for organisations to support promoting access and inclusion for the deaf in all areas of life, whilst reducing the inevitable isolation and loneliness that comes hand in hand with the inability to communicate. 

You can learn more about them and what they do on their website - https://www.manchesterdeafcentre.com/ - and Facebook.