One such is Tara Mallett of SPARKS.

All of you who have attended the Benefit Year Curries over the last few seasons will have either met Tara or admired her from afar, as she toured the banquet, convincing you to part with a few sovs to buy raffle tickets.

So devoted to her role as Communications Manager at SPARKS is she that at the moment she is in full training for a sponsored bike ride from London to Barcelona.

She has the intention of raising £2500 for the charity by this self-punishment, which is due to begin on August 22nd.

She told the DWs: "I am not a natural cyclist, (I hate traffic and am a bit scared of going down hill!), but with steady training I’m getting there. I’ve also had to take a week out to get used to my clip-in pedals which resulted in me falling off my bike three times, a scabby knee and me crying like a 5 year old wanting my mum! However, whenever I’m feeling this challenge is way to much for me and that I’m never going to get there, I try and remember that I’m doing it for the kids who will never be lucky enough to be able to cycle themselves."

Tara is going to come along to Alex’s Curry to stock up some energy and also for a little bit of R&R in her training regime – but also to be on-hand to answer first hand any questions you might have about how the funds we have raised for SPARKS over the past years have been applied.

Please make her feel welcome and at home. I’ll be very disappointed if she needs to buy herself a drink while she is with us.

To get her off to a flyer, we have decided that any profit we make on the evening will be “rounded up” in DW style and put onto her JustGiving site ( http://www.justgiving.com/tarasmadcycle ) to push her towards her target.

I’m sure she would also welcome any individual contributions you might care to make via this site – make sure you put DW in the text so she knows where it comes from!