Tin Rattling

I would like to preface this by saying I don’t expect you to sponsor me.  (I hope that would be obvious, but I want to make sure I’m being polite about this.)  However, you can if you would like: here.  I would be extremely grateful.  I hope that raising money for a charity that I really believe in will both do some good in the world and help me to make it around that 26.2-mile course.

I am very aware that sometimes it can feel as though we are being constantly bombarded with requests to be sponsored – for everything from a 5K walk to just not having a drink for a little while.  It gets ridiculous, particularly if you work in a big office or other workplace.

I feel that selecting the charities I choose to support is a very personal decision, and I don’t like people trying to pressure that decision.  In case you’re interested, I give small monthly donations to carefully chosen charities, but I am really happy to make one-off donations to people who are doing worthwhile things for great charities – so I hope you don’t mind me asking whether you would like to do the same.

I decided to run the Brighton Marathon for the Katie Piper Foundation because my mum does a lot of work with them.  This means that I have been to some of their events, met some of their team, and seen first-hand the great work that they do – something that feels very important to me.  I honestly wouldn’t have done this if it were for some arbitrary faceless charity, just because I quite fancy running a marathon.

KPF’s work, in a nutshell, is built around the ethos ‘making it easier to live with burns and scars’.  In practice, this means that the aims of the charity are to:

·      improve outcomes for burns survivors

·      deliver – directly or indirectly – intensive, comprehensive burns rehabilitation (post acute care discharge) in the UK

·      support burns survivors throughout their journey of recovery.

Katie is an inspiring woman, to say the least – you may recognise her from the documentaries she has made about both her story and the Foundation.  If you haven’t seen them, I recommend having a watch (should be free on the Channel 4 website, but I’m not sure how/if this works for my international friends).

It sounds fatuous, but many of us really take for granted how much easier life is when you look ‘normal’.  The Katie Piper Foundation’s work is really important and I am happy to do all I can to support it.  Running a marathon is quite a big deal for me and I hope that all my hard work will be worthwhile.

So, a quick recap…  You can find out more about the charity here.

And sponsor me (if you would like to) here.

Thanks very much for reading.