MOST New Year’s resolutions fail to make it into February, but one Wrexham man has set himself an ambitious challenge – giving up alcohol for the entire year.

Geraint Edge, 27, has joined forces with his cousin, Warren Read, to ditch the booze and raise money for Nightingale House Hospice.

Geraint, of Oak Drive, Acton, chose the charity because his father, Colin, 55, died at the hospice from bowel cancer in March 2005.

The data analyst for Avox Ltd at Redwither Tower on the town’s industrial estate is setting himself a fundraising target of £1,500. He said: “Warren came up with the idea and at first I thought he was joking. But he said he was determined to do it and so I told him I would join him.

“A lot of resolutions get broken in the first couple of days but I have an incentive because its raising money for the hospice.

“The work they do is amazing and all the care and support they provide for patients and relatives is invaluable.

“I had a look on the Nightingale House Hospice website and it said they need £2.2million to run the place per year and that £1.9million is from donations.”

Speaking about giving up alcohol for a year Geraint, who is married to Christine and has a six-year-old son, Robert-John, said: “My dad would have probably laughed at me because he knows I like a drink.

“I usually drink in the house nowadays – wine, and my favourite drink, whisky and coke.

“I sometimes do go a bit overboard with drink but I don’t normally get hangovers.”
Geraint added that he hoped not drinking would make him healthier and help him to lose weight.

“For the first couple of days I have done okay,” he said.

“There is still a bit of alcohol in the house from Christmas so it is tempting to reach for that.

“It’s going to be difficult when it comes to birthdays and usually I get a bottle of wine for my birthday, but I have got the determination to do it.”

Anybody who would like to sponsor Geraint should go to www.justgiving.com/geraint-edge.