A 63-year-old will be completing the Great South Run to raise money for Portsmouth's Band of Brothers

Mike O'Doherty, 63, has decided to take on the Great South Run, which will be taking place on October 16, to support the Portsmouth A Band of Brothers which is a mentoring charity.

Mike, who is the engagement co-ordinator for the charity, has been working alongside the team for the last year and is desperate to get the word out to people in Portsmouth of the invaluable work they do for young men.

The charity aims to help young men who have found themselves in the criminal system, those who are on the wrong paths and those who are vulnerable and may be leaving the care system or are homeless.

The Portsmouth charity was set up in 2018, but got ‘torpedoed’ by the pandemic which meant that the team had to put a pause on the support on the work they were doing for the young men.

They support men aged between 18 to 25 years and they have a group of older men who mentor the men to get back on the right track in life by exploring their past and reflecting on where they want to go in the future.

Mike said: ‘It is a space for them to look at where they are in life, how they got there and if it is working for them, and then what needs to be changed.

‘We show a healthy way of showing up and being responsible, acting accountable and being present but we do it without judging them and making them feel safe.’

The engagement co-ordinator has already managed to raise £125 that will be put back into the charity, but he wants to make people across Portsmouth aware of the work it does.

Mike said: ‘The child who is not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel its warmth and this is what these young men are doing.’

Mike has been training for the last couple of weeks and he said that he has worked as a postman for eight months in the past so he got used to walking long distances.

He said: ‘It will be a stretch, but I know I can do it.’

To sponsor Mike go to https://tinyurl.com/mrcw482s