**Skip the blurb? Challenge 2 is the bottom paragraph :) **

Thank you for visiting my page! 

Most of you know this - it’s no secret... I’m in the military! You could even say it’s a family tradition with both my sister and I currently serving in the RAF, two parents who served in the Army and a Grandfather who dedicated a substantial amount of his life to the Merchant Navy. 

So, why am I doing this??

I have had the privilege of working alongside some extremely hardworking, passionate and dedicated individuals. I’m always the first to say how the teams I have worked within have made me extremely proud over my short career, deploying at an unbelievably high rate to places with minimal infrastructure, testing food and most importantly limited communication channels to reach back to their families. Rotary especially has shown me the sacrifices that personnel have to endure and I’m not naive enough to believe that this is isolated to one area - I fully understand that this is just one area that I’ve spent a short amount of time within. 

On that note! The Royal British Legion is a charity that myself and Natalie have spent much of our lives supporting and raising money for. For me personally, they help members of the Royal Navy, British Army, Royal Air Force, veterans and their families. They support serving and ex-serving personnel all year round, every day of the week. Their support starts after one day of service and continues through life, long after service is over. They help to ensure the highest quality of care for those suffering physical and mental issues and help families that need time to reconnect. As you can see from my explanation above, my personal belief is that personnel in the military need the kind of support that the Royal British Legion provide just to survive Service life and beyond, be that serving personnel deployed far and wide, the families left behind trying to cope with the chaos at home and the veterans trying their best to transition to civilian life. All the situations above have been exasperated in the past year by COVID-19 and yet, despite collections being cancelled and remembrance services being limited, the Royal British Legion has continued to support military personnel, veterans and their families. 

So, what are we doing??

Throughout 2021 my sister and I will be undertaking numerous challenges to raise money for the Royal British Legion. These challenges will occur roughly every two months and include the likes of a half marathon, step climbs, long distance bike rides, swimathons etc. Don’t worry - in case you forget I’ll be harassing my FB following with updates, links and progress. Come next year, I pledge to donate a further 10% of whatever I raise towards the Royal British Legion up to a maximum of £500 (because I’m committed not ‘rolling in it’). All of these activities will culminate in an Arctic Survival Challenge led by the Royal British Legion in Feb 2022.

CHALLENGE 1: Half Marathon! ✅ 27 Feb 21 - 2:01:14, photos below!

CHALLENGE 2: Climbing Everest!

Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay were the first people to climb Mount Everest, summiting on May 29th 1953. At 8,848m high, it is calculated it takes 58,070 steps to summit. Over the course of April, Natalie and I will be summiting Everest between us! That’s 29,035 each over 30 days... that’s 968 a day or more importantly it’s climbing the stairs in my house 75 TIMES EVERY DAY FOR 30 DAYS...

Let the challenges begin!!!

If you can donate I’d be extremely grateful and the impact each penny has is immeasurable to the individuals receiving the support on the other end. If you can’t donate, that’s fine - please share our story! 

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure and your details are safe with JustGiving - they will never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they will send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity. Please use gift aid if you can! Every penny helps!

And most importantly, thank you for taking the time to read this! I know how boring a page of text can look but you’ve made it!