As many of you will already know, my dad, Andrew (Andy) Ansell, sadly passed away from Kidney Cancer on 20 October 2014, aged 54.

During the last couple of weeks of his life, Andy was expertly cared for at St Kentigern's Hospice in St Asaph, North Wales and whilst it had by that stage become apparent that there wasn't a cure for his illness, the next best thing for him, his family and friends to know was that he would be as comfortable as possible in his final days. The facilities at St Kentigern's  and the care provided by the staff there made this a reality.

Something many people are not aware of until a loved one requires end of life care, is that hospices are not part of the NHS and in England and Wales they are almost entirely funded by private/community donations, with less than a third of their income coming from public funds. This together with the fantastic care that Andy received from St Kentigern's has prompted Sofia and I to don our trainers and put our bodies on the line to try to raise as much money as possible for such a brilliant cause!

Whilst Andy spent his time at St Kentigern's, there are over 200 hospices around the country, each doing a brilliant job for patients and families alike. These hospices are equally in desperate need of funds and as Hospice UK is the umbrella charity which represents all of them, that is why we have chosen to run under their banner.

You may have noted that we have a rather ambitious target of £4,000 and this is because we have committed donating a minimum amount of sponsorship of £2,000 each. With your generosity (and doubtless our sore feet) we are confident that this is an achievable goal for a great cause like supporting our hospices.

Thanks in advance for any donation you are able to make.

Best wishes,

Pat and Sofia