My much-loved little brother Rich died on August 30th this year aged 42 after an incredibly resilient and brave 4 1/2 years dealing with bowel cancer and all its horrific challenges.

He had found the strength to get through more than 50 chemotherapy sessions, countless operations and other interventions - and a life turned on its head. Yet somehow, right to the end, he almost invariably managed to see the positives.

This December, as part of Team Decembeard for Rich, I'm growing a beard and trying to convince as many as possible of his friends, relatives and supporters to do the same to raise money for Bowel Cancer UK, a charity so dear to his heart. He was very attached to his beard in every sense and over recent years became the 'face of' the annual Decembeard campaign.

So please dig deep if you possibly can to contribute - my suffering through a bit of itching, it goes without saying, will not be great. His was. And another person is diagnosed with bowel cancer in the UK every 15 minutes.

It's been an especially tough year for charities. This could potentially be a real shot in the arm for the UK's leading charity for the UK's second biggest cancer killer. It's a surprisingly small charity for a huge disease.

Thank you in advance! I'm off to throw away my razor.

PS. The photo shows Rich with me and our cousin Charlie during Decembeard 2018.