So, can I introduce myself? I’m the Reverend Dougie Burnett, a minister with the United Reformed Church in Bristol. Next April with my two daughters, Isabella and Lucy, I shall be taking on the London to Paris bike ride for the charity PiggyBankKids.  This is in the way of seeking monies for our fundraising (we have pledged to raise £4500 between the three of us), but also to espouse the work of a very worthwhile charity.

If you’re a regular reader of DorkyMum you might have come across PiggyBankKids already. Remember the loose coins collection of a couple of months ago? OK, so we are talking the same charity. PiggyBankKids is all about changing children’s lives. Founded in 2002 by Sarah Brown it seeks to inspire professionals to continue their world-changing work in saving and transforming lives. This takes different shapes and forms in this country and around the world. First up is the Jennifer Brown Research Laboratory, based at the prestigious Queen’s Medical Research Institute in Edinburgh and is uniquely focused on both pregnancy and neonatal research. Next there are the partnership projects. From mentoring programmes to sports provision, children’s cancer care to school-based projects it is all there, with a particular focus on mentoring. Finally there is education for all. PiggyBankKids is expanding, taking their commitment to the most vulnerable children outside of the UK and into a global context. We have chosen to focus on the second of the Millenium Development Goals, set in 2000, in which the global community committed to universary primary education by 2015.

I hope that by now, with just a small taster, that you are getting the idea that this is a great charity doing big things! So why this charity for us? I spend so much of my life working with young children. It’s great fun. As I work with these small people I come to appreciate just how formative those early years are. Receiving and giving operates on the most profound level. Get those early years right, and you have so much security and well-being for the rest of life. I suppose it’s in the way of giving back for all the fun I have with them in my work! The other thing is that most of my life is spent in lycra. Life is lycra and lycra is life. My sport is triathlon! Not that I’m fast. I’m not fast at all. I’m slow and Alastair and Jonathon Brownlee can rest safely.  But what I love is that sense of well-being that comes such physical engagement. It’s great for the body and soul (notice the Rev. bit creeping in there!)

PiggyBankKids works with the international Special Olympics movement which is dedicated to empowering individuals with intellectual disabilities to become physically fit, productive and respected members of society through sports training and competition.

Last year my church was part of a London 2012 Inspire project, working with and across our community, to explore the Olympic and Paralympic values.  With our local Primary School we took on board a community run for PiggyBankKids. We loved working with them. Now for something more!  Paris beckons. For me it is more lycra and fundraising. For my grown daughters it means fundraising and shopping (in Paris!) But for all of this to be meaningful, we need you! Please help Team Burnett raise all we can for PiggyBankKids.

This link is to my Justgiving page, but all monies raised by this means shall be equally divided between the three of us. Thank you in anticipation!

JustGiving.com/DouglasBurnett