Hello lovely NUNs!
I think some of you have heard by now that I have been lucky enough (depending on which way you look at it) to have been given a place in this year’s London Marathon. YIKES!!! I received my place through a charity linked to work named Beanstalk, who are also in partnership with the London Standard’s “Get London Reading” campaign. They are a national literacy charity who recruits, vets, trains and supports volunteers to work in primary schools with children who have fallen behind with their reading. This may not sound like a hugely important cause compared to other live saving charities but some of the stats are quite frightening…
- 74,000 children in England left primary school last year (July 2013) unable to read and write properly.
- 8 million adults in the UK have no useful literacy- they could not look up a plumber in the yellow pages, fill in a job application or even use the internet.
- There are proven links between illiteracy and unemployment, poverty, social exclusion and antisocial behavior.
I have to raise a minimum of £2,000 for Beanstalk, however they have very kindly said anything over the £2,000 can be donated to the Stoke Association which is a cause with a more personal link to both my family and a few close friends. I am therefore upping my fundraising target to £2,500.
I’m sure you all realise that training for the marathon is a huge commitment as I know some of you have done it yourself, the tough winter training is well under way and I have reached the half way point but there is still a long way to go! I have to admit, the reduction in alcohol intake is almost as hard as the training but hopefully it will be worth it in the end!
I know that January isn’t the best month to be asking for donations so I will be sending this out a couple of times before the big day (which is Sunday 13th April if you didn’t already know!-the day after the NUNS Summer BBQ) which is a mere 75 days away!!!
If you would like to know more about either of these charities or would like to make a donation please follow my link below…
http://www.virginmoneygiving.com/JessTaylor
Thank you for reading and I’ll try not to harp on about it too much over the coming months!
Jess x
