I am running this September's Berlin Marathon in memory of my beloved grandad, Stephen Charles Green, who died earlier this year.

Steve loved life and his family of two daughters and eight grandchildren meant the world to him, along with his two younger brothers and sister.

He spent years working as a signalman on the railways and loved taking train trips up to Scotland to see his cousin and down to Devon for holidays with his grandchildren.

He loved a steak and a pint in a good pub and Fenny Compton bowling green in Warwickshire was where he spent many happy times. He lost his wife, Betty Ann Green, to breast cancer in 1993 and never remarried, building his life around his grandchildren. He loved going on bike rides and fishing with them before, sadly, he had a stroke.

Steve made a strong recovery from this, but then - in 2021 - was diagnosed with the cruel condition of dementia. He spent the last years of his life in various care homes, where he made lots of friends and having Alzheimer's didn't take away his love of a decent steak and pint in the nearest pub. But it did change the man we loved into a shell of his former self, which is why this cause means so much to me.

I've never run a marathon before, yet knowing I'm helping such a worthwhile cause to stop other families going through seeing someone you love so much forget those around them is keeping me going.

My grandad never forgot who I was - thankfully - but many people are not so lucky.

Every pound you kindly donate will go toward Alzheimer’s Society, which is working towards a world where dementia no longer devastates lives. It does this by giving help to those living with dementia today and by providing hope for the future by campaigning to make dementia the priority it should be and funding ground-breaking research.

Thank you for your kind donation. It means so much to me and will spur me to get round the 26.2 mile course.

If anyone who donates would like to recommend a few songs I can run to during the Berin Marathon, I will add them to my playlist and that will be like having you by my side when I am pounding the pavements.