Hello, my name is Ali and sometimes I do stupid things. (See also: walking into doors, leaving my phone in the fridge and choosing to live on the District line.)

So this year, I decided to put my propensity to be stupid to good use. Every year, on my Dad's birthday, I do something to remember him. In 2019, I (again, stupidly) went to every stop on the London Underground in a day to raise money for Mind, the mental health charity. Then came the pandemic, and the opportunity for public stupidity on behalf of charity was somewhat limited.

So this year I'm back, and I intend to make up for lost time. You've probably heard of the MCU's Multiverse of Madness, well welcome to the Trifecta of Stupidity. Three months, three charities, three opportunities for me to injure myself, get lost or otherwise embarrass myself for your amusement.

Stupid thing #1: 100 Mile cycle through the Yorkshire country side from my dad's birth place in Middlesbrough to the National Railway Museum in York - 25th September.

Stupid thing #2: Oxford Half Marathon - 16th October.

Stupid thing #3 - Attempting to break the record for the longest continuous time on the London Underground by spending 48 hours just on the tube network - 11th to the 13th of November.

All of this to aid three incredible charities: Mind, Centrepoint and the NSPCC. Each charity has it's own Justgiving page which you can find linked on this team. On each page, you can find out a little more about the work they do, and why I chose them. But the TL;DR is:

Mind - Mind have done some incredible work campaigning to end the stigma against mental health and to advocate for improved services and treatment for those who suffer with mental ill-health. They have been integral to giving a platform for those who campaign to give people with poor mental health a voice.

Centrepoint - At various times during my life, I've found myself without a permanent roof over my head. I was lucky. I either ended up in temporary accommodation or my friends let me sofa surf. However, there are far too many vulnerable young adults who are in insecure housing. Centrepoint provides practical help supporting 14,000 young people a year.

NSPCC - Volunteering with the British Transport Police means I've found out all too well about vulnerable young people who end up on the railway for whatever reason. The NSPCC not only works to raise awareness about the signs of child abuse, domestic violence and child exploitation, but gives children a voice through the Childline hotline and the abuse reporting tool.

Overall, I'm hoping whatever money this raises goes to help some of the most vulnerable in society, and makes someone's life somewhere a little better. My Dad made my life a hell of a lot better. He made me who I am today, so by donating, you're helping me pay that favour forward and say thanks for who he was.

About Andrew David White

Anyone who has ever met me will know I'm a railway fanatic. Those who know me a little better know I got this from my Dad. He loved anything mechanical: trains, motorbikes, buses, cars, if it has a motor he knew everything about it. Nerd.

What people probably don't know is how much of a tough life he had. He had experienced domestic violence, suffered through PTSD and had to support his child through horrendous patches of poor mental health. Yet he was still one of the kindest men I know, with an ability to forgive and to love that I will never be able to comprehend and that I can only hope to aspire to.

He was an incredibly strong man and I'm kinda hoping I inherited just a little bit of that strength. It's strength that's pushed me through the last six years without him, and it's strength that will push be through the 100 miles of cycling, 21.1 km of running and 48 hours of the Transport for London. He made my life so much better by being in it, and I'm hoping his memory can help make someone else's life better too

So, here's to being stupid.