Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

24/10/10, Great South Run Complete 1h20min50sec, very pleased with time. last 3 miles where a struggle, but got in well, perfect day for running, a nice flat course.

20/10/10: Time for the Great South Run, on 24/10/10 please help me reach and pass my target. My second run will be on Sunday in Portsmouth.  Race No. 9437. see if you can spot me on Chanel 5!

19/09/2010: Great North Run complete, 1h 54m 59 sec. (No. 51116) very proud of getting under the 2 hour mark, £400 raised in online donations. 

In January 2010 I had a knee operation following a rugby injury in 2009.  I needed a goal... something that would inspire me to get off my recovery bed and get moving again.  Completing both the Great North and Great South Runs definitely fitted the bill.  A training program was devised and I am on track to complete these two runs.

TREE AID was established as a charity in 1987 by a group of foresters in response to the famine in Africa, brought to public attention by Band Aid and Live Aid. They wanted to provide a long term solution once the emergency relief efforts ended. They believed that trees could significantly reduce the vulnerability of communities in rural Africa's drylands to drought and famine in the future. 

Coming from the Horticultural industry my livelihood is linked with trees, shrubs and the environment. This charity has struck a chord with me because it teaches and educates people about caring for their environment, about plants, trees and how they can help provide food and livelihood for those around them. 

Trees have permanence: they last long beyond those who planted them, benefiting the community and the environment for generations to come. Helping those in need to help them selfs and their future generations. 

£10 plants a tree and ensures life long care so a family will benefit from its food, natural medicines, shade, shelter and leaves to make compost to enrich the soil.

£35 pays for Forestry Know How Training so villagers can learn how to germinate seeds, manage nurseries, care for and protect trees and learn sustainable farming techniques that improve the soil so they can grow more food. 

£100 buys a bike so families can collect and carry water, reach their fields and trees, transport tree products to sell at market and take their children to school.

£170 buys a Nursery Starter Kit – a kilo of seeds, 1,000 grow bags, 25m of fencing, spades, rakes, watering cans, everything needed to establish a tree nursery which will transform the lives of families throughout the local area.