Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

You may not know this, but I have been a supporter of Right To Play for a number of years; in fact I’ve been on the UK Board of Trustees for about 5 years.

Right To Play is committed to every child’s right to play. We give children a chance to become constructive participants in society, regardless of gender, disability, ethnicity, social background or religion. Through games and sports, we help create social change in communities affected by war, poverty and disease.

I have seen the true benefit of Right To Play in the field. In October 2009 I was privileged to accompany a number of Right To Play colleagues to Ghana; to visit some of the programmes that Right To Play support there.

In the first village that we visited nearly every child under the age of fifteen participated in a games day. The games that I participated in focused on health education (particularly Malaria and HIV Aids), the environment and developing life skills. I have rarely seen so many happy, smiling faces and Right To Play had built a playground for the village. It consisted of swings, a climbing frame and a roundabout: not hugely sophisticated, but one young lad had stopped wandering from the village as a result: he’d been found up to 40km away from home on a number of occasions. [see photo "Playground"]

We visited The Three Kings School, a Special Needs School, where we witnessed the ninety or so pupils throwing themselves into the games with immense enthusiasm and they clearly derived huge enjoyment from their play. A very humbling day for all of those that attended; but what a privilege! [see photo "Three Kings School"]

So, here’s the thing; we visited one village where we participated in games with about sixty children. When we asked how often the two hundred or so children watching were involved in Right To Play activities we were told “Never”. Their teachers had no training. These kids were watching their peers playing, learning, enjoying themselves and not participating themselves. It’s essential that we continue to fund these programmes and increase the number of coaches that can lead these activities. [see photo "Spectators"]

This is one of few charities globally that treat children like children. Please support me and my team-mates in our fund raising efforts. Oh! we’re cycling from Brussels to London in early July