THE BAREFOOT MARCHESA Home Restaurant

A couple of weeks ago a friend who had been on the Women v Cancer 2012 Kenya Cycle Ride persuaded me to sign up for the equivalent ride in Cuba in 2013. Having had breast cancer myself in 2008 and having lost a number of friends and acquaintances to various cancers this seemed a worthwhile cause.

But the challenge is huge for me, in more ways than one. I'm very unfit and so I have a lot hard work to do in the next 18 months to be able to do a 400km cycle ride across Cuba. In addition, I've recently moved to Canterbury in the far south east of England from 150 miles away from where I used to live. I can raise some money through the generosity of my family and from friends who are scattered far and wide, but I need to do all sorts of fundraising here locally too.

So I came up with the idea of setting up a Home Restaurant. The idea flourished in Cuba in the late 1990s, as commercial restaurants are unable to exist under communist rule, and where such private restaurants are called Paladares and run in private homes. So I thought that this was a fitting way of raising money for an event held in Cuba.

And that's what I'm setting up in Canterbury. To raise money for the Women V Cancer 2012 Cycle Ride in Cuba and to help get me to my target of £2900+ in aid of the three womens' cancer charities, Jo's Cervical Cancer Trust, Ovarian Cancer Action and Breast Cancer Care, that are the beneficiaries of this event. Just in case you are wondering, I am not expecting my sponsors or guests to pay for my expenses to get me out to Cuba. All sponsorship and profit from the restaurant will go direct to the the charity Women V Cancer.