Hello!! and welcome to my page. My name is Wayne Flanagan and on April 13th I will be running the London Marathon. This will be my FIRST ever marathon and I will be raising funds for the Youth Services at the The Westminster Society for people with learning disabilities.

I never thought I would run a marathon. End of story. My body does not lend itself to long distance running too well (I'm quite short and stocky). But as it goes, that is the exact start of my personal 'running' story. I started running a couple of years ago as, I have to admit, I found it quite difficult to get motivated and make myself get out and run as I found it quite boring! Today I'm faced with the biggest, and scariest physical challenge of my life, but the impetus to succeed by raising money for The Westminster Society is spurring me on.

My connection with The Society? I have been working there for around a year, mostly in Youth Services. Whilst I have been there, I have been involved first hand with the front line services The Society provides. To give you a small insight in to some of the stuff we do; we enable young people to attend Community Centres; weekend clubs and outings; holiday schemes and additional projects throughout the year such as our Youth Transition Project which supports young people to learn essential life skills for the future and our Duke of Edinburgh Award Programme.

Whilst I have been at the Society, the young people have been on numerous trips and outings all made possible by the funding we receive. To name a few, they have been on an urban art tour of East London, horse riding, a tour of the BBC centre, climbing and caving, kayaking, bowling, and to the cinema.

The resourcefulness and endeavour of these young people is remarkable and never fails to impress. As my relationships have grown with The Society and the young people, I have been looking to show my support in more ways then just having fun with them (well that's the way I see it!) and running the marathon has provided me with just the opportunity to show them just how much I care and would love you to help me make that come true and show them just how much we all care.

I have no minimum amount that I have to raise but it would still be great to maximise the amount we can raise. Any amount, no matter how big or small will be hugely appreciated, and if you want to know where your money has gone then I am more than happy to let you know, so just ask.

Thank you all in advance for all your support.

Wayne

The Westminster Society has been transforming the lives of Londoners with learning disabilities for over 50 years. The aim of the Charity is to provide quality services and create new opportunities for people with learning disabilities of all ages and their families throughout London. A few of the services provided by The Society include the Rainbow Family Centre, Family Advisory Services, Lisson Green Play Centre, registered care homes, supported housing and the ‘LDN’ Living’ service.

If you would like to find out more about The Westminster Society and the work they do, please visit their website at the link below;

http://www.wspld.org.uk/main.cfm

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