On Saturday, 4^th June I will be doing my first ever Triathlon event at Blenheim Palace. I have opted for the Super Sprint, a shorter version, which includes a 400m swim in the lake followed by a 13.2km bike ride and finally a 3km run. I am sure it will be a challenge for a first timer like myself and am keen to make it an annual event.

With your help, I am hoping to raise £500 for the Simon Drew Foundation, a charity I set up in 2009, in memory of my father. Since the launch of SDF we have been raising funds for a scholarship scheme to enable hard-working children from the slums of Manila, in the Philippines, to obtain vocational training or College education after secondary school.

We want to say a huge thank you to our regular donors and those who have fundraised for us since 2009. Thus far they have been able to help 14 Filipino students to go to college or technical/vocational school, providing all of them with a real opportunity of finding gainful employment, and thereby in turn helping their own families escape from the poverty trap. We look forward to supporting more students through the scholarship scheme in the coming years.

In response to the appalling refugee crisis and desperate situation of many young people flooding out of Syria, we are also in the process of setting up a fundraising partnership with a charity working in Lebanon, who are already providing education for Syrian refugee children in a number of tent schools in some of the refugee camps. It is an incredible project and something we feel the Simon Drew Foundation should be supporting.

Please go to our website - simondrewfoundation.org.uk – for more information about SDF and upcoming announcements about the Syrian refugee tent schools project.