As some of you may be aware, this year will be 15 years since I lost my father to alcoholism. He was not an old man, and I was only a child when he went, so I wanted to do something connected to the good memories we had together.

One of my favourite memories is of door knocking with him and my sister for Amnesty, at the time, and being 5, I didn't really understand what they were, but I understood they stopped bad things happening to children like me.

Now slightly older, I realise that my sister and I were probably being used as it's much harder to say no to cute kids than it is a 40 year old man, particularly in a middle class suburb.

In his memory, and in recognition of a cause he dedicated a lot of his spare time to, I'm going to be doing Dry January, which includes my Birthday, to try and raise a few quid for Amnesty:

Summary from JG:

Amnesty International is a movement of ordinary people from across the world standing up for humanity and human rights. When injustice happens to one person, it happens to us all.

Recent campaigns include refugee and migrant rights, climate change, children's rights, women's rights, Syrian conflict and LGBTI rights. Amnesty's biggest achievements include outlawing torture, holding war criminals to account and controlling the arms trade.

Your support is of significant value - only together can we continue to make a difference.