Thank you for browsing my blog

I’m an assistant principal working at a further education college in London. I’ve been employed in this sector for more than 25 years and began by teaching English at a college on the Isle of Wight.

In my spare time I love to travel and volunteer my skills to help improve the life chances of women affected by gender-based violence and children affected by poverty in Sri Lanka. I’ve always sought out opportunities to get away especially to off the beaten track places. I’ve been volunteering abroad since 2013 along with my now 19 year old son.

I enjoy cycling, walking and paddleboarding to keep fit but mainly because I love being in the fresh air and on the move. During the first COVID lockdown I completed an online freelance and travel journalism diploma with the London School of Journalism (LSJ) and now use the skills developed on the course to write in a more focussed way.

Please see my article The holiday that changed things for the background on how I initially became involved in volunteering in Sri Lanka as this is key to my current fundraising i.e. trekking across Sri Lanka.

As I update this page in September 2022 I’ve volunteered in Sri Lanka eight times. It should have been more but in 2019 this was prevented by the devastating Easter terrorist attacks across the island, and our flights were cancelled last year due to the pandemic.

I hope you enjoy reading my blog posts and especially those I wrote whilst trekking Stage 1 earlier this year. I wonder if you’ll be inspired to get involved in some way with Stage 2 which I’m planning for March/April 2023 and hope to raise a further £10,000?

Marcia Xx