What a hell of a year we have all had, the ups & downs, the isolation and the lockdowns. We have all suffered in one way or another. Hospitality took a big hit during the lockdowns, with the closures, tier systems and curfews being introduced, making it harder for them to do what they do best.

Now I don’t know about most of you, but hospitality has been a big part of my life. From working in a French market, 2 Italian restaurants and a Costa coffee throughout my younger years, I loved the interaction with the customers, the colleagues you met along the way and making sure you always gave great service. Skip forward a couple of years and hospitality is key to most of my interactions with people, whether its celebrating family birthdays in restaurants or catching up with mates in the local pub. With that said, I have been doing my best in lockdown to help out the industry by ordering takeaways, eating Al Fresco and making the most of ‘Eat Out to Help Out’ last summer.

So, what better way to help support the industry even more than to run my bum off for 8 days, raise some money and pay tribute to the coffee shop owners, restaurateurs and publicans that have brought me so much pleasure over the years. Oh, and I guess I could get fit in the process, which is always a bonus! We will be doing this as a Jellybean team from the 10th-18th June and helping raise money for Hospitality Action who help those in the hospitality industry get back on their feet, so if you’re local then keep an eye out for the striking orange running tops!

If you’d like to help contribute to our team page that would be wonderful (https://umbali.org/challenge/its-bean-emotional), or you could help me out and reach my personal target which is here: https://umbali.org/challenge/Xgu6wHaZko5aR2F3x/its-bean-emotional

Thanks in advance and wish me luck, I’m going to need it, lockdown has not been kind to my fitness!