I've done some pretty cool things in my life.

I've been to the X Factor Live Tour, twice. I've read Mary Berry’s autobiography in a single train ride. I’ve solved a Rubik’s Cube using YouTube tutorials. Did I ask for sponsorship for these accomplishments? I did not. Did I merit some form of compensation for acquiescing Mary's questionable views on the optimal cooking temperature of a Battenberg? Perhaps. But I don't do these things for hundred dollar bills. I ooze honour and virtue, friends. I do it for the kids.

And the kids respond with gratitude. They crow my name from the rooftops; recorders blare 'Land of Hope and Glory' as I strut down the Mall, bunting tickling the wind, singing in the rain. Though these deeds go some way towards bathing the plucky young cherubs of England and Wales in some much-needed sunshine, they are decidedly insufficient with regards to improving the lives of vulnerable children. 

What's your favourite film, Emily, you ask. Without a moment's pause I reply 'The Sound of Music'. It is a magnificent montage to trial and tribulation, guile and determination, nautically-inspired uniforms. Its enduring scene sees Captain Von Trapp lead his tribe of babbling sprites unto the top of Mount Kilimanjaro. He stood at the peak of the famed Tanzanian mountain, held his youngest aloft, and screamed the following lyrics:

Climb every mountain!
Search high and low,
Follow every byway,
Every path you know.
Climb every mountain,
Ford every stream,
Follow every rainbow,
'Till you find your dream.
A dream that will need
All the love you can give,
Every day of your life
For as long as you live!

Tears running down my face it was at this moment I decided to commit to people like the Von Trapps and signed up with The Children's Society to conquer this mountain. With physically inferior climbers from the University of Bath vomiting in my wake, I will charge to the top of Kilimanjaro. Many won't make it to the top. Many more will develop IBS on the way. But this challenge, this charity, and this life, are more important than them. We owe it to our young cherubs who've been dealt a poor hand. The universe is a wicked and indiscriminate judge: these children aren't just people we might have been. They are us, and we are them.

Your money will breathe life into the struggles of our young people. Your contributions will support the brave men and women who dedicate their existence to the subsistence of others. I find inspiration in those who overcome. I want to help those, who through no fault of their own, have been unfairly done.

Do something special tonight. Please reach into your Visa Debits, and decorate my sponsorship page with your almighty dollar. Push me one step closer to my feeble target of £3000. Take my hand and lead me to the mountain on June 8th 2k16. Let's help some kids along the way.