Due to the current situation in which we find ourselves, an important local charity - Friend In Need - has had to close many of the services that it runs, since the vast majority of its service users are over the age of 70 and are having to self-isolate. Instead FIN has set up a Covid-19 Community Response Team to give support to older and vulnerable people in the  community.  With a significant loss of income for the foreseeable future, FIN is facing bleak times and I want to do something to help. 

Two weeks ago, the Brighton Marathon was due to take place, followed by the 40^th London Marathon a week later. Both events were cancelled, and in place of this, the organisers of the London marathon have come up with a campaign called The 2.6 Challenge, to raise money to help save UK charities.  The principle behind this challenge is to come up with an activity based around the numbers 2.6 or 26. We on our road are going to, between us, complete a marathon (26.2 miles or 42.1km) on Sunday, by travelling at least 1 x 0.5 km loop along our road in an anticlockwise direction. Participants can run, jog, walk, scoot or even skip their way round!

The first event of this kind for FIN took place in a nearby road this Sunday just gone (27 April) and I am continuing the challenge in my street this Sunday, because I think that this is a great way to a) Raise funds for an essential local Barnet charity b) help mobilise the community and further develop friendships and links between people and c) give all the people who are now busy NOT running a marathon or half marathon, after having trained very hard, somewhere to direct their energies!

Thank you in advance! You are doing a wonderful thing in sponsoring this event, which will hopefully be the second of many and make a real difference to FIN's future.