London is a city of extremes. Like me, I'm sure many of you will have walked along West End streets lined with the dazzling displays of designer fashion, and noticed a small figure huddled in a doorway, with only a sleeping bag and piece of cardboard as their bed. You may have enjoyed an expensive dinner in a swanky Soho restaurant, without even realising that in the next street, women are being exploited via sex work having been trafficked into the UK.

Behind the theatres and opera houses, five-star hotels and glamorous shops, there is desperate social need. A quarter of all rough sleepers in England are located in Westminster. Westminster is also home to more sex workers and trafficked women than anywhere else in the country. London consistently tops the charts as the loneliest city to live in the world.

In this city of extremes, I want to play my part in supporting the most vulnerable and overlooked. So, I am taking on the challenge of the London Marathon to raise funds for All Souls Serve the City, which aims to address the needs of the most vulnerable people in London. Its projects seek to help the homeless and vulnerably housed, women caught in the sex industry, and isolated elderly members of the community. Specific initiatives include: