On the 27th February 2025, I will be taking part in the Lord's SleepOut in support of the Club Cricket Charity and the Saracens Foundation.

50% of the money I raise will go to the Saracens Foundation and , the other 50% will go to the Gandon Prodger Legacy Fund to support four community organisations using sport and cricket to make positive change.

Having worked at the Foundation for nearly 7 years, I have seen first hand the incredible work our project teams deliver, working with everyone from refugees to prisoners, disabled young people to care home residents. The money raised from the Lord's SleepOut will be an invaluable lifeline to those projects which are currently underfunded - and will make a genuine difference to the charity. Whilst we don't directly deal with homelessness as an issue, we recognise that a number of our participant groups are likely to face homelessness in their lives. In particular, housing is a massive challenge for our Get Onside graduates when they are released from prison, and the refugees and asylum seekers on our Sporting Roots project. The money raised from this event will enable us to offer greater support to our participants and ensure we can keep delivering our projects, having a positive impact on our beneficiaries.

The Gandon Prodger Legacy Fund is a fund created in memory of Simon Prodger and Nick Gandon - two individuals who understood that sport has the power to change lives. I have had the privilege of working with Nick in organising the SleepOut despite his terminal cancer diagnosis last January. He has been a force of nature with this event and we are determined, as a Foundation, to see his vision of an incredible event come to life, and money raised to go to some incredible causes.

This event has the potential to change so many lives and support so many charities and is a one off experience to sleep under the stands at the Home of Cricket.

The event itself is going to be a huge challenge, sleeping outside in the stands at Lords, in February.... come rain or shine! As a great fan of central heating and a comfy bed, I think the 27th is going to be very hard, so if you fancy easing some of the challenge by donating, I would be forever grateful!