Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

I'd like to tell you why I am doing this marathon.

I retired from working for Child Bereavement UK at the end of 2017. During my time there, I worked alongside bereavement support practitioners who supported children, young people and families when someone significant in their lives had died. Before that, I had spent 34 years being a teacher and headteacher helping children learn about a variety of subjects that increased their knowledge and understanding of the world that they lived in. It had little to do with helping children learn to understand more about themselves, and develop a sense of who they are and what they have the capacity to be. My teaching helped children to achieve greater learning, but it didn't help them to become more aware of who they are. They were equipped with skills imposed from without, but not helped to understand the capacities they had within to become the unique person they were born to be.

When I took early retirement at 55, I looked for a position that would provide me with the opportunity to support children to find out who they are, so that they can believe in the gift of the person they were always meant to become.. I will be forever grateful to the charity, and the people who make it the amazing charity that it is, for giving me that opportunity. But more importantly I could appreciate at first hand the impact that their work had on enriching bereaved people's potential for loving and being loved again so that they could feel proud of themselves and believe with trust in their unique individuality.

Running the London Marathon will give me the chance to repay the charity for the life-changing opportunities I have experienced through my involvement with their work. The support that they give to children, young people and families allows them to accept that someone special to them has died; encourages them to appreciate the impact that the death has had on them; helps them to understand the emotions that they are feeling which might be driving some difficult behaviours; and supports them to take choices that might change the direction of their lives forever. The bereavement support practitioners listen to them without judgement, talk with them without intention and care for them without expectation of anything in return. In this way, it encourages the bereaved young people to trust the professional relationship and feel confident and free to explore honestly their feelings. This can take them confidently and positively to places within themselves that they may have been scared to go; and enable them to cast their own light where there may have been complete darkness.

A response from an angry teenager will live me forever. He said: "You are the best old man I've ever met". I was 63 at the time, and he was 14. If an ordinary old man like me can make a difference to a young person's life, it just shows you that anyone can. I hope you feel able to make a financial contribution to my JustGiving page to make sure that Child Bereavement UK continues to help families build back their lives again for a long time in the future.

In my updates, I will continue to talk about how the charity's way of supporting bereaved families can have enormous impact on the well-being of children, young people and adults for all of their lives going forward.