The last time I did a sponsored event I was still at school and it was a sponsored silence.

That was a long time ago. We didn’t even have the internet then. We had to go around with a clipboard and collect sponsorship manually. That’s really hard when you can’t speak. I guess I should have planned in advance.

Anyway, I’m now going to cycle to Copengahen for the December climate change talks. Talks that could very well impact on the continued existence of humanity so, you know, I thought I’d check them out. We’re cycling 140 miles in three days in weather conditions that could charitably be described as ‘unpleasant’. Quite a challenge when, to quote Friends, you have a body shape ‘like a potato with arm and legs … and a head’.

My target is to raise £2000 for Christian Aid. Quite a large sum of money, especially in these lean times, but believe me when I say that anything you could spare would be a great help, particularly if you GiftAid it.

Why Christian Aid? Easy, it’s the best development agency out there, fighting poverty in partnership with local agencies in 50 countries worldwide. Christian Aid works with people of all faiths and none, its mission is nothing less than the total eradication of extreme poverty from the face of the Earth by identifying and dismantling the mechanisms that keep people poor. I believe its work is invaluable.

I also work for them.

Which is nice.

Anyway, I hope some of my readers will choose to sponsor me. For my part, I’ll attempt to be witty and entertaining as I recount the two month training period and the ride itself on this blog. If that doesn’t do it for you, I’ll post pictures of me looking red faced and sweaty like a lumpy radish in lycra.

My sponsorship page is at www.justgiving.com/spiritofthestairwell.