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At the age of 50 my Mum (Miriam) started running and soon took on the challenge of running her first ever half marathon, raising money for NSPCC. She is now 60 and considering this to be her last half marathon so has kindly passed the bat-ton to me (Charlotte) and this will be my first half marathon! 

Miriam says: 40 years ago, I first took a seat near the front of Court 2 in Cardiff Crown Court as a trainee verbatim court reporter.  Within a year, for the first time in my life, I heard of child sexual abuse.  The memory has never left me – I found it so incredible to believe that someone trusted by a child, known to them as maybe a relative or family friend, could do something so awful.  It wasn’t just one case I came across either, and of course many cases never got as far as a Crown Court hearing.  A common thread in most of these cases was that the child was told, “Don’t tell anyone, it’s our secret” – and when I had my own children we never had secrets, we instead planned surprises.  If a child said to me now that they had a secret, I would be wary.  Other children might be told they were “special” and others “Don’t bother telling anyone, no one will believe you”.  This last is sadly still true today.  Is that why so often such reports are ignored?  Would someone really not do something if they believed what the child said?

Throughout the last 40 years the NSPCC has been there to listen to children, to believe them and to help them.  Please support our efforts to support the NSPCC now and ensure they are there for the future by sponsoring Charlotte and I as we run the postponed 2020 Cardiff Half – Charlotte for the first time, me for the fifth time and maybe the last.

Thank you x

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