Our Uncle Tom was very much a legend. He set up Cure Parkinson’s in 2005, undertook an epic sponsored walk around the British coastline, and was part of the Olympic torch relay for London 2012. He could also eat enormous quantities of potatoes, did an extremely good impression of a caterpillar, and could have beaten Forest Gump at table tennis.

When he left us some money to go on “adventure”, we knew we had something to do something spectacular: Uncle Tom-style. This is why we came up with The Olympic Mission.

The Olympic Mission or T.O.M. is the challenge to try out every Olympic sport as a family. We (Megan, Beth, Emily, Katie and Charlie Boxall) get a lot of our passion for sport from Uncle Tom, who was one of those annoying all-rounders who could do anything brilliantly. While we don’t imagine we will perform these events to his standard – some of us are particularly nervous about the 10m dive – we are so excited to be celebrating the life of our uncle by doing something he would have loved.

The challenge will begin the night of the closing ceremony. We have 46 events from 33 different sports to complete before the Paris 2024 Opening Ceremony.* We can assure you that there will be no half-measures in our efforts, which you can follow on our Instagram: @the_olympic_mission.

Every penny we raise will support a cause incredibly close to our family’s hearts. Thank you very much to anyone who supports T.O.M. We hope to do our uncle and Cure Parkinson’s proud by it!

*Due to the popularity of T.O.M. events we have decided to postpone this deadline to enable more people to be part of our mission: to celebrate Uncle Tom’s life; raise money for Cure Parkinson’s, and bring friends and family together through sport.