50 CHALLENGES FOR MY 50TH!

Sitting with my mum in her nursing home, I gripped her hand as I told her my plans.

- ANNA VERDON, MATT BARBOUR

‘I’m going to be doing 50 challenges for my 50th birthday,’ I said, even though I knew she didn’t quite understand. With my dad passing away from Parkinson’s and dementia in December 2017, aged 75, it was heartbreaking to see my mum now ill with vascular dementia and Alzheimer’s. It didn’t seem fair that our family was being blighted by this cruel disease again.

That’s why I’d come up with the idea for my birthday. ‘Life is too short,’ I thought. I didn’t want to let life pass me by, I wanted to try new experiences and make memories, raising money for Alzheimer’s Research UK while I was at it.

So instead of throwing a party, or getting gifts from friends, I asked them to set me challenges and donate to the cause. I was prepared to try anything and everything, and was excited for what was to come…

AND WE’RE OFF

My first challenge was one I’d set myself. As a volunteer community radio presenter, I wanted to broadcast my weekly radio show, live, while driving a barge down the Thames. So in July 2021, I joined the team from Onion Music for five days on their Thames music tour. After an initial hiccup with some of my software, it was plain sailing down the river – after I’d got to grips with steering the large boat.

HIGH FLYING