Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

On the Sunday 26th April I'll be taking part in the
London Marathon.

It's been a ambition/dream of mine to take part in the run
since watching my Dad take part 35 years ago.  Somehow that childhood dream turned into a bucket list item, but I've finally plucked up the courage and signed up.  It will no doubt be the toughest physical challenge I've ever undertaken, but I'm ready for the challenge and very excited to be taking part.

The London Marathon is well known for the amount of money it
raises for charity (over £66m last year).  So like so many participants
before me, I'm also raising money for charity.  I'm running for the
WHSmith Charitable Trust, where any donation, big or small will be very much appreciated. 

The WHSmith Trust is a registered charity with two principal
objectives:

To support the local communities in which WHSmith staff and customers live and work

To support education and lifelong learning, helping people of any age to achieve their educational potential

The Trust provides grants to support the excellent voluntary
efforts of WHSmith staff in their local communities.  Employee involvement takes many different forms, ranging from sporting challenges to raise sponsorship, holding a fundraising event or volunteering time to give day-to-day help to a charity or school.  Some of the employee-nominated charities range from big national campaigns such as Cancer Research, Kidney Research, Alzheimers Society, Diabetes UK and Parkinsons Disease Society to small
community based charities including scout groups, hydrotherapy pools, hospices and air ambulances.

 Every year, the Trust makes grants to hundreds of schools around the country so they can build book stocks in their school libraries.  The Trust also provides grant funding to the National Literacy Trust in order to support a three year programme which will promote literacy and the love of reading across the UK.  With the Trust’s support, the National Literacy Trust will work with primary schools across the UK to help change the literacy culture within the school, particularly helping disadvantaged children to improve their literacy skills.  The programme works across three year groups within the school and will build book knowledge and book selection skills, support and promote peer-learning, offer older children a leading role in promoting reading and encouraging book ownership.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.