The Covid-19 pandemic has had a catastrophic effect with the cancellation of thousands of events and the loss of billions in income through fundraising events.Many of these charities have had to reduce or stop services at a time when vulnerable members of society need them most; thousands of staff have been placed on furlough and many charities will not survive the next few months. In response, the organisers of the biggest mass-participation sports events across the country have come together to create a new campaign to raise vital funds to help save the UK’s charities.The campaign, The 2.6 Challenge, will launch on Sunday 26 April – what should have been the date of the 40th edition of the London Marathon, the world’s biggest one day annual fundraising event, which raised £66.4 million for charities in 2019.

Why we are supporting the National Autistic Society...

As many of you know I work in community engagement at the National Autistic Society (NAS) supporting the operation of our  network of over a 110 volunteer-led branches and groups across the UK, which cover almost three quarters of the country! Our  passionate and dedicated volunteers take part in fundraising and campaigning activities, and run family support and information services to help autistic people in their local area. These amazing branches are like a life line to so many families who are often isolated during normal times and even more so now. 

Working at NAS is also like being part of a family and Anoushka (my 10 year old daughter) feels that connection too. Having several autistic friends at school she was especially delighted to be photographed with her sister in a onesie when our fundraising team launched the 7k for 700k challenge a few years ago. More recently she came into the office and hung out with our campaigns team trialling out autism awareness activities. 

I can safely say that exercise  is not top of our list and at least I will never run a marathon in my lifetime! So this is a perfect opportunity to be part of the spirit of the London marathon, do some excercise and support a charity we love 💕 

Our challenge is all about 26-ing, 🦄 and a booty band...

Pre lock-down my weekly 1 hour in the gym with my ever so patient trainer Nick consisted more of me chatting to avoid too much working out! These have now turned into a fully fledged, limited scope to chat still with a lot of laughs 1 hour zoom workouts with a unicorn booty band ....though have negotiated the number of reps down from 30 to 20!  So this weekend I will be doing my booty band workout squeezed into Anoushka's unicorn onesie and pushing the boat out with reps of 26 to really feel the burn!!!

Anoushka will also be challenging herself doing 26 reps  of star jumps and more....in her unicorn onesie! 

Watch this space for updates and photos and if you fancy please donate :) Thank you so much. Stay safe and well. 

Keya & Anoushka 

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