In pride of place in my parents hallway is a photograph of my father crossing the finish line of the London Marathon in 1988, and ever since I can remember I have wanted to follow in his steps and complete this once in a lifetime challenge. 

For the past few years - usually after a gin or two! - I've unsuccessfully entered the ballot to make this challenge a reality. But in recent years, as tensions within the Church of England have intensified, I've realised that the underlying objectives of the Terrence Higgins Trust are not at all dissimilar to those of us in the Church of England who long for a day when there is no longer a place for ignorance and discrimination within the Church, and I'm delighted to have secured a place to support the work of this very important charity for 2024.

I would like to raise £2,500, and any donation you can give will be very gratefully received. The THT strives to educate people about HIV, and support individuals with practical sexual health support.

Unfortunately we still live in a world where our understandings about both HIV and sexuality are fuelled by historic misconceptions and prejudices, and any donation you can give will help stamp out stigma, and foster a more equitable society where all people can thrive.

In their own words... 

Terrence Higgins Trust are the UK's leading HIV and sexual health charity. They support people living with HIV and amplify their voices, and help the people using our services to achieve good sexual health.

They work to:

• end new transmissions of HIV in the UK by 2030;
• support people to live well with HIV;
• challenge the stigma associated with HIV and with poor sexual health;
• deliver high quality services.

They do this by supporting people living with HIV and ensure their voices are heard, providing testing services for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, and helping the people using our services to achieve good sexual health.

As well as provide services, they campaign on issues from relationships and sex education in schools to the proper funding of HIV services.

They also run community projects such as Positive Voices, which supports people living with HIV to tell their own stories, and work and skills programmes for people living with HIV. And on behalf of Public Health England, they lead It Starts With Me, the national HIV prevention programme.

Find out more at https://www.tht.org.uk/.