The Royal Parks Foundation is celebrating the launch of its 2008 collection of Deckchair Dreams - a series of fabulous designer deckchairs. Our theme this year, "The Rare & Wonderful Things of the Royal Parks", has inspired 23 top artists and celebrities to pledge their support for the Parks and each design an original canvas. Our new collection is now available for you to sit on and enjoy in Hyde Park, Green Park, St James's Park and Regent's Park between June and October.

This year, we're delighted to welcome visionary artists, cartoonists, book illustrators, fashion designers, thespians, soldiers and taxidermists to our list of generous contributors. These include Tracey Emin, Marc Quinn, Keith Tyson, Matthew Williamson, Raymond Briggs and Joanna Lumley - plus many more.

Bloomberg is once again delighted to sponsor Deckchair Dreams, which includes a community programme with over 100 pupils from six schools neighbouring the Royal Parks, plus a group of soldiers from the Household Cavalry! A winning design has been chosen from each group and these chairs will also appear in the Parks alongside the celebrity collection this summer.

Visit www.deckchairdreams.org to view the full collection and purchase a limited-edition chair.

As the charity for London's eight Royal Parks, we're proud to announce the launch of our new Half Marathon on Sunday 12 October 2008, starting and finishing in Hyde Park. The route winds through Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens, The Green Park, St James's Park and along the River Thames amongst avenues of beautiful autumnal trees, taking in superb views of Buckingham Palace, the Houses of Parliament, Marble Arch, the London Eye and the Royal Albert Hall.

Race day will be for everyone, runners and spectators alike, with a fantastic variety of activities for all the family including the Brakes Food and Fitness Festival, the Charity Village and much, much more. We're making the event as green and environmentally friendly as possible, and we hope our Half Marathon will help people to focus on and celebrate the amazing wildlife and heritage of the Royal Parks.

We'd love you to consider running on behalf of the Royal Parks Foundation. If you'd like to compete and raise funds for us in this way, please email Sally Barney.

We're working with our local community and hundreds of charities, large and small, to help make the Half Marathon a fundraising success. So if you'd like to run or find out more, visit www.royalparkshalf.com and we hope to see you there on what promises to be a very exciting day!