In August, my sister Jessie died in a tragic accident whilst on holiday in Ireland with her partner and children. Jessie was a genuinely wonderful person, an amazing mum and a brilliant big sister. The kind of person who, if you mentioned that you liked something in passing, would show up at your house a few days later having got it for you. She spent most of her working life at St Basils helping and housing young people, I was in awe of her then and am indebted to her now. The world losing Jess means I need to get up and fill some of the goodness gap that the loss of Jess has created. 

Jessie loved Ireland. She went with her family every year and she was deeply connected to our Irish heritage. She died only 20 minutes up the road from Westport, the home of our grandfather, and her spirit now blows across the fields of County Mayo. This is why me and my partner Rebecca are going to walk from Dublin Port to the peak of Croagh Patrick, in aid of St Basils and in memory of my sister. The route covers approximately 450km and will take us 21 days.

St Basils works with young people aged 16-25 who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, to enable them to find and keep a home, grow their confidence, develop their skills, increase opportunities and prevent homelessness.