Our teams are well known for their charitable endeavours and none more so than our head of planning and architecture, Natasha Blackmore da Silva.

Whether it’s abseiling down Coventry Cathedral, walking along the Greenway in Stratford-upon-Avon, or hula hooping for a month, she is no stranger to thinking of fun and interesting ways to raise money for good causes.

This year is no different and she has set herself the challenge of skipping through May for Cancer Research UK.

The charity’s 100 Skips a Day fundraiser has seen Natasha take her skipping rope to the park, work and her garden each day – and so far she’s done just over 1,500.

Her motivation is her grandfather, who has been battling cancer for the past five years. Although sadly it’s at the stage where it’s not going to go away, it was spotted early enough to allow treatment to maintain a good quality of life.

She said: “My grandfather has been helped enormously by treatment and his medical team but has made it very clear he has no intention of going anywhere anytime soon!

“We both wanted to raise money for Cancer Research UK this year and since he can’t do the skipping at the moment, it has been left up to me!

“So far it’s going well and I’ve managed to keep to the 100 skips per day. I’ve also beaten my fundraising target and with two weeks to go, I’m confident I’ll raise even more.” 

Natasha says treatment continues to improve and advancements in medicine mean we are getting closer to wiping cancer out, but more research is needed to help prevent, detect and treat cancer.

She said: “Cancer Research UK carries out research into more than 200 types of cancer and anything we can do to help support their research and take cancer down is a win in my book.”

If you are in a position to donate to this worthwhile cause or would like some more information on Natasha’s challenge, please click here to get to her JustGiving page.