My father passed away, unexpectedly, in September of last year. His battle was short but none the less well-fought. As he would have said, the marines are tough...

The care, compassion, respect and kindness he received from the nursing team at Macmillan Caring Locally was second to none. For that reason, and in his name, I will be running the Bournemouth Marathon Festival 10K in October. Macmillan Caring Locally is a small charity and is in no way connected to the national charity Macmillan Cancer Support. As a result, every single donation is of critical importance to those receiving palliative care at their unit based at Christchurch Hospital in Dorset.

Those of you who know me well will know that, in recent years, the only place I have run to is the nearest bar. You can imagine therefore that this is likely to prove to be a genuine challenge. With that in mind, or indeed if you knew my pa and found him to be the funny, grumpy, sarcastic Scouser that we all knew and loved, please donate what you can. You have no idea how much any amount will mean to this small, independent charity. Thank you for whatever you can give.