Update, 3rd September 2018: Appeal closed - thank you very much to everyone who supported me, and to everyone who supported my Team NYCGB teammate Anna!
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I'm running the Severn Bridge Half Marathon on Sunday 26 August 2018 to raise £500 for the NYCGB Alumni Champions Fund, which helps current NYCGB members with the costs of auditions and membership.

I became a member of the National Youth Choir in 1999 and some of the best times, concerts and friends of my life followed.
Since re-joining NYCGB as a full-time employee in 2015, I've learned a huge amount about what goes on behind the scenes, and about the wider Music Education landscape. It has been humbling to discover how much work NYCGB does week in week out to ensure that financial assistance is there for the high number of members who need it, and alarming to learn about what's happening to music in state schools. 
I'm convinced that NYCGB is an experience for children of ability, not means, and I'm privileged to get to do something about that in my working role (I also make a modest financial contribution as a Silver Friend). When Alumni Committee member Anna George suggested fundraising for NYCGB by entering a running event, I instantly wanted to get involved (I took up running last year) no matter where she chose, and asked her to send me details. The Severn Bridge Half Marathon is a brilliant choice as I'll have been in Cardiff two days before watching the National Youth Training Choir.

So here goes: my first half marathon, and my first ever fundraising activity. I'm setting a modest target which I'd love to beat. Click the donate button above to help me hit my target (the fundraising bit at least!) - support from former Tenor 2s is particularly warmly encouraged/strictly mandated... Julian Forbes