ello, ello, ello - what have we 'ere then?

Well, we had all agreed that it was about time I should introduce myself and start contributing to the blog - having taken up the very kind offer of becoming the 4th Pollicott Belle during the summer months! My name is Amber, I'm 19 and although strictly speaking I'm not a 'Pollicott Belle' (as I live 5 minutes down the road in Westcott) I'm a cousin of Vicky's other half, so have known Vic, Sian and Alex for years now.

My involvement with the Belle's started back in April/May time when I had taken up a bit of running in preparation for a fitness test to join the Police as a Special Constable. After successfully getting through the bleep test and weights, I decided that, (contrary to my previous belief) I quite enjoyed this exercise lark, and so Sian took lead role of Mrs Motivator by inviting me to join the Belles on various cycles over the summer months. I jumped at the chance, dusted my bike off and since then I've been joining in with training as often as I can. Having heard the stories and seen the pictures from their first challenge for Macmillan Cancer Support in June, I realised that all of the hard work the Belles had put in had paid off and they really had all enjoyed it. As well as being very proud to call them all friends, I was now convinced that I would love to be involved in doing something so challenging for a great cause.

When Sian, Alex and Vicky told me that the chosen charity for the 2011 challenge was going to be Helen and Douglas House, I have to admit that although I'd heard of them, I wasn't entirely sure of what it was that they did. So, I jumped straight onto the Internet and did some research. After reading several stories and browsing over their website I was so excited that we'd be doing something to contribute to the truly amazing work that the hospice does to help terminally ill children. It's given me more motivation and since then I've continued with cycling and running, am half a stone lighter (and will hopefully be more so by the time we start off for the challenge) and honestly cannot wait until the weather picks back up and we can go full steam ahead into preparation and more fundraisers.

Lastly, just a big thanks to all of the 3 Belles for inviting me in, waiting for me at the tops of more than a few killer hills and being so supportive! I hope everyone has a great Christmas, and no doubt the blog will be hearing more from me in the near future :-)

Amber.