I will be running 26.2 miles in the Virgin London Marathon, and I hope to raise lots of money for Wigan & Leigh Hospice. The marathon takes place on Sunday 13th April and I will also be joined by parliamentary colleague and Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls MP.
I visited Alan Baron, Chief Executive and staff at Wigan & Leigh Hospice today as I launched my online donation page here.
Fresh from the inaugural Wigan 10K last year, I have been putting in the hard miles of training when my parliamentary diary allows as the big day approaches.
I can be seen at weekends cutting a lonely figure on the East Lancs road in the wind and the sleet. But what keeps me going is the knowledge that the money raised will help to fund the important work that Wigan & Leigh Hospice undertakes across Leigh and the Borough.
I was asked what my target is for the marathon - to finish ahead of Ed Balls, obviously!
All money raised for Wigan and Leigh Hospice will go towards their ‘Hospice in your Home Service’, which is supporting patients and their families in Andy’s constituency, Leigh, and across the Wigan borough.
The ‘Hospice in your Home’ service takes the skills, ethos and practical nursing care associated with the Wigan and Leigh Hospice into the home environment, seven days a week. It is provided by a small team of Qualified Nurses and Healthcare Assistants and aims to offer more time with patients and to give practical support and nursing care to patients and their carers.
After testing in four pilot areas, Wigan and Leigh Hospice is looking to roll out the service across the local community.
Alan Baron, Chief Executive of Wigan & Leigh Hospice said,“We are delighted that Andy has chosen to support the Hospice in his Marathon efforts. Andy has been a great supporter over many years."
“We need to raise over £7,000 each and every day to keep our services open. Our new “Hospice in your Home” service forms a major part of our expansion to enable more people to remain in the place of their choosing as they come to the end of their lives. Andy’s efforts and those of the thousands of other local people who have supported the Hospice over the last thirty years will enable us to continue spreading our reach.
“We wish him well on his run and I, for one, am sure that he can beat Ed Balls.”
Andy will be running the marathon in support of three charities:
Wigan & Leigh Hospice provides specialist palliative care services on as broad a basis as possible and at the highest quality achievable in both the Hospice and the community, thereby aiming to enhance the quality of life of individuals with a life-threatening illness.
Whizz-Kidz aims to improve the quality of life of disabled children and young people in the UK through the provision of customised mobility equipment. We also provide help and advice to the children and their families and raising awareness of mobility-related issues through national campaigning.
Everton in the Community is the official charity of Everton Football Club and is proud to deliver a range of programmes to promote health, education, social inclusion and equality of opportunity to over 30,000 participants every year across Merseyside and North Wales using the power of sport.
