West Norfolk Olympic torch relay

I may have missed out on carrying the official 2012 Olympic torch but I am delighted to announce I will taking part in a four-day torch relay across West Norfolk using one of the torches used for the 1948 Olympics - the last to be held in London.

The relay is being championed by the West Norfolk Sports Council and will see the torch, on loan from Loughborough University, carried into more than 80 villages ahead of the London Olympics. The relay will be held over the Diamond Jubilee bank holiday weekend (2-5 June) and will start and finish at Lynnsport in King's Lynn.

Norfolk Olympian Paul Evans, who competed at the 1992 and the 1996 Olympic Games, will start the relay just after 9am on Saturday, June 2 before handing over to yours truly in North Wootton. I will then run a two-mile route before passing over the torch in Castle Rising.

As well as the relay, sponsored three-mile runs are also being planned for many of the villages visited with proceeds going to the Stroke Association and the stroke unit of Lynn’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital. There will also be sports taster sessions in many of the villages along the relay route. 

I really think the relay will bring a feel-good factor to the area ahead of the Games and I am delighted to be taking part. I also got a chance to have a good feel of the torch I am going to be carrying when it was used to kick start a campaign which aims to inspire West Norfolk residents to take part in regular activity in the build up to next year’s Games and trust me it is heavier than it looks!

Hairdresser clocks up 24 hours for Macmillan Cancer Support

While many people were making their way into work on Friday morning, King's Lynn hairdresser Vicky Redhead was clocking off after a 24-hour charity “chop-a-thon”. Vicky cut 40 people’s hair in total at Everybody Hair Salon, in Lynn, between 9am on Thursday and 9am on Friday and raised more than £1,500 for Macmillan Cancer Support. She decided to raise funds for the charity in honour of her brother Mark who was diagnosed with terminal cancer earlier this year and I was delighted to be the last appointment of her marathon effort.

I found out about her "chop-a-thon" through Twitter (her username is @vickredhead) whilst at Hospital Radio Lynn on Thursday evening and after my show I popped down to see if she could squeeze me in. As I approached the salon, there was a bouncer on the door which I thought was strange but correctly assumed it was for safety reasons. After persuading the big bouncer to let me in, I saw that Vicky already had a client but she said she had a space at 8am on Friday and I signed up to be her last appointment.

On arriving at the salon on Friday morning, I have to admit I was a little worried. Vicky had been cutting hair for 23 hours straight and looked completely drained and here I was sat in the chair surrounded by sharp scissors and razors! But she was "in the zone" and I couldn't fault her at all. I was so pleased to have been her last appointment and to have seen the look in her face when she realised her marathon effort was over. She should be so proud of herself because she raised a fantastic amount of money for charity and I'm sure she had a good sleep when she got home!