Join in with the December Daily Dash

I'm really proud of one of my close friends and Cookham mum-of-two Jackie Smith. Starting on 1st December 2015, she is embarking on a new tough challenge for charity – set up by herself!

Sadly, over the past two years, Jackie has lost both of her parents to cancer. She says: 'I lost my mum first to ovarian cancer in October 2013, followed by my dad who lost his battle with cancer of the thymus gland in March 2015. I want to turn this horrible experience into something positive and raise money to support Sue Ryder, the charity that gave my dad such fantastic care during the last few months of his life. When he became unable to look after himself at home, the doctors and nurses at Leckhampton Court Hospice offered him a haven at a very bleak time and looked after him with care and dignity. For that, we will always be grateful.'

So, to raise money, Jackie has launched a new challenge called the December Daily Dash - you have to run 3 miles a day every day in December. Six people from Cookham/Maidenhead have currently signed up to do the challenge and Jackie is looking for more volunteers!

'Along with my husband, Mark, and some other energetic friends, I will be attempting to run 3 miles a day, every day of the month, to raise money for the charity Sue Ryder,' says Jackie. Her goal is to raise £500 for the charity.

Jackie admits she isn't a seasoned runner, so says this challenge will be hard and will take about 35 minutes every day: '3 miles might not seem a huge distance to tackle, but when you consider that we will be doing this EVERY day (even on Christmas Day), in possibly freezing temperatures, whilst everyone else is busy drinking Prosecco and enjoying the festive season, you can see we have a challenge on our hands!'

Those who are interested in joining in with the challenge can email Jackie

at jackieknowles@yahoo.co.uk. Alternatively, if you can spare any amount of money to help spur them on in this challenge and raise money for this fantastic charity, then they would be extremely grateful. The Just Giving page is www.justgiving.com/decemberdailydash

More information about Sue Ryder and the incredible care that they give can be found here http://www.sueryder.org