It's been a busy few months fundraising wise as I continue to work toward the target of £5,000 for Guide Dogs and we are getting nearer to being able to name and meet our guide dog 'Jaycee' and follow his progress over his first year of life as he is born, assessed and goes to his puppy alker to prepare for his intensive training to put him on the road to becoming a guide dog and being a 'miracle' in the life of a visually impaired person.

The other day I watched the ITV documentary 'Me and my Guide Dog', a heart warming programme tracking two owners as they are paired with and train with their new guide dogs Chelsea and Pippa, the programme featured other owners and their guide dogs and as I was watching it, i started to get curious about where we had got to with our fundraising target as the money keeps dripping into the fund but a recent figure had not been drawn up.

A couple of weeks a go, Dexter Montague LLP solicitors held their annual charity quiz with the proceeds being split equally between Guide Dogs and the Leaukaemia charity my fellow organiser was supporting. The quiz was a great success and through quiz entry, raffle, a 'name the dog' competition and donations - £260 was raised for each charity. A huge thanks has to go to Dexter Montague LLP Solicitors who hosted the event and sponsored nibbles for the tables. The main focus of my summer has to be the Yateley 10km road race series that I entered back in January having been inspired by my fellow JCI Reading friend Lynda Harwood who signed up for the Tough Mudder challenge which raised £1,000 towards our target.

It's been a hard journey for me - never having been the sporty type. I began training in January and the first race was at the beginning of June. I completed the race in 1 hour 15 minutes and 33 seconds - a massive achievement for me to finish it at all! It was far from easy and it's true that I was in a bit of a state - in fact the next few days were interesting! The next race was at the beginning of this month - annoyingly i took a second longer, but it is clear all the training had been worth it, as I wasn't in quite so much of a state at the end and it didn't take me as long to recover - we're talking a couple of days rather than a week!

Having a quick stretch before the race starts

So, the big question is how much have we raised so far? If we add on the quiz monies and the amount that has already has been pledged in sponsorship for my road races the great news is that the magic total now raised by JCI Reading fo Guide Dogs now stands at £3,811 What's coming up over the next few months I hear you ask to get us closer to our £5,000 target?

Well we have a whole storage room of donated books, so whilst the summer's here a couple of car boots would be a great idea, there's a possible craft fair, some office mufti days and much more- that target of £5,000 will be reached!!!!!

If you feel you can help move us closer to being able to get Jaycee named then please support me in whatever litte way you can as I approach the third and final race of the road race series in just under 3 weeks time. Please go to www.justgiving.com/Clare-Franklin/

Clare Franklin
JCI Reading