As some of you may know, I have signed myself up for Weymouth half Ironman (70.3) that is taking place on 20th September this year. I've been training since last October with the goal of just getting over the finish line and over that time, I've had several people ask if I am doing any fundraising. After some thought, I've decided to use this as an opportunity to raise some money for a charity that means a lot to me - R World.

R World is a charity set up in honour of my friend Robbie Curtis who passed away in 2020. I met Robbie at uni in Nottingham as we were on the same course, and what followed were 3 of the best years of my life - in no small part due to Robbie's friendship. I can honestly say he was one of the sweetest and most loving people I have ever met and everyone who knew Robbie would agree. I have loads of good memories with Robbie, but one that always sticks out for me is every time we were both out at Ocean nightclub (iykyk), we'd agree to set a reminder to meet at the bar every hour, on the hour, to get a drink - Robbie had a taste for a Jägerbomb! Good old Robbie would be there waiting every time without a doubt, in whatever state we were in, and this was him down to a tee; a dependable friend who was always up for a laugh.

Following his passing, Robbie's mum, Lesley, along with other close friends/family helped to set up a charity in his memory named R World, which was also the name of Robbie's travel blog. The charity has two key focusses being mental health, to raise awareness and help prevent suicide, and international development, which was one of Robbie's passion and what he was going to study for his Master's degree.

Since setting up, the charity has done some incredible work raising over £53,000 to help fund First Aid for Mental Health for lecturers and teachers across a number of schools and universities, and helping to build and open a library in Malawi. Whilst the library is now officially open, R World is continuing to fundraise for more books to fill the shelves, library equipment, computers and furniture, as well as to continue providing mental health training to teachers and lecturers.

Please do have a read of the R World website (https://www.rworld.org.uk) to see details of all the work they do and all about Robbie.

I'd be super grateful if you were able to give whatever you can to help keep R World doing this work in Robbie's memory, and I just hope I can get over the finish line now!

Ben