Our Heroes – Your Day, Your Way

How you have helped us make a difference

Our Intrepid Trekkers

South Downs at Night

Congratulations to our team of trekkers who all safely completed the 28 mile trek through the night from Brighton to Eastbourne. There was plenty of chatter in the dark hours which helped us through to the end.

It was heart-warming to see the team include members of The Openwork Partnership, Owl, 2plan and Omnis; a true partnership coming together to help each other take on a tough challenge.

A big thank you to our trekkers – you’re all superstars and helped raise over £18,500.

2plan Yorkshire 3 Peaks

2plan held their first key event in support the Foundation and conquered the Yorkshire 3 Peaks. A 24mile route, with 5,200ft of ascent in under 12 hours. The weather was so kind and everyone supported each other as one big 2plan family.

James Marshall and Graeme Stamper organised and led the determined team, including Chris Smallwood working together they raised a staggering £33,200 before uplift.

We are so very grateful and look forward to 2022 and more great things!

Owl – 40 miles in 4 weeks

The community spirit of our colleagues in Owl sees them support each other, their clients and communities in so many wonderful ways.

In their latest challenge, Sarah Harding led a group of advisers and colleagues to each cover 40 miles in 4 weeks. They exceeded over 1,600 miles; some ran, some walked and some even got their dogs involved!

The team did incredibly well, and it wasn’t always easy, many had to dig deep to achieve their target miles and raised in total £1,800!

Running to make a difference

London & Virtual Marathon teams

It was exciting to see the return of the London Marathon in October and we are so proud of everyone who took part in the mass event and the virtual event too, becoming part of the largest ever marathon.

All participants covered 26.2 gruelling miles and every single person dug deep, challenging themselves, while helping support the Openwork Foundation’s grant programme.

Thank You team – what a phenomenal achievement!

Royal Parks Half Marathon

Well done to another team of awesome runners who took part in The Royal Park’s Half Marathon, just one week after the London marathon.

The super six were Rob Harper & Vicki Bowler, CMG, Anthony Scott and Dominic Ferneyhough, Fiducia, Harpreet Atwal, Atwal Wealth Colin Gellatly, Omnis and joined by Lisa Willingham from The Foundation!

What a team! Thank you all!

Guy & Petra conquer local half marathons

When the Swindon Half Marathon was cancelled with just weeks to go, Guy Thomas – Varian & Petra Oakes still fulfilled their challenge and support from their generous sponsors. We were delighted Petra selected the Bristol Half Marathon and Guy completed Swindon Half virtually and Petra now has London 2022 in her sights. When you’re ready…nothing will stop you!

Going the Distance

Matt Morris’ challenge to
cycle from Lands End to
John O Groats

This is an enormous feat for anyone and Matt, from The Penny Group, chose to complete it on his own and unaided. WOW…and with these challenges, he completed the 1,561.9km route in just 9 days, 5 hours and 49 minutes.

In Matt’s own words “I rolled over the line - completely finished, and completely finished off. It had been an amazing, surreal, lonely, painful, stunning adventure and would do it all again”. You can read about Matt’s challenge and see his amazing photos in his blog www.thebreathingcycle.com

Thank you, Matt – you are our Superhuman Superhero.

Ring of Steall Skyrace

Sophie Foreman from Woldingham Financial took on this 29km run that traverses the ridges of the Munros. She tackled uncompromising mountain running, scrambling along mountain ridges with steep ascents and descents on technical and challenging terrain! What a challenge, Sophie!

Sunflower Challenge

Thank you to Claire Nicholl, ALM Financial for bringing sunshine into the lives of many this summer with her Sunflower competition to grow the tallest plant and raise funds for the Foundation

Gray Financial's 40mile trek

Thank you to Paul Toher and everyone at Gray Financial who completed their 40 mile trek, starting from their premises in Liversedge and finishing at the Hollybank Trust Charity, a local charity that recently received a £3,000 grant from The Openwork Foundation

My Sea Challenge by David Ridley

Ok! I set out to swim 5000 metres in open water without a wet suit over 20 swims, in the cold North Sea. I faced many challenges and saw some amazing sights – dolphins, seals and waves as tall as skyscrapers. I extended the challenge and completed 75 swims, covering 40,442 metres and raised nearly £3,000 for the Foundation. I’m now know as Aqua Man!

We Care – in so many ways

Lord's Charity Evening

We were delighted to see the return of the annul charity evening at Lord’s. Our guests heard from our charity partners Cruse Bereavement Support, Dementia UK and double Olympic champion Helen Glover.

Over £70,000 was raised from the evening, including the on-line and live auctions – thank you all who supported the event

Kris Walklett – £1,000 raised and counting

Good luck to Kris for taking to the ring and raising funds for the Foundation. He has supported us in so many ways and this is his latest challenge!

G in the Dark – raises £10,000 for the Foundation

We are so very grateful to Cliff Gray who held his summer event ‘G in the Dark’ to raise funds to support a range of local charities, including The Openwork Foundation. It’s an amazing one-night festival, supported by so many in The Openwork Partnership; an evening of music, fun and laughter.

40 Challenge

The KBA Team has tackled different challenges from 40 dog walks, 40 cakes to bake & sell & 40km running in the month, all to mark the 40 years of the Openwork Foundation. The team wanted to support the Foundation and to push themselves to do something they wouldn't ordinarily do and we are very grateful for their support.

Regional Golf Day

Julia Smith & Stuart Lusty from the Business Development team arranged their first regional Golf day, with 58 players coming together. They had fun, laughter and a great competitive game of golf raising over £2,000. Thank you to all involved - here’s to more events like this happening as we head into 2022.

Setul Mehta – a Foundation Hero

Setul has been a fantastic supporter of the Foundation for many, many years – his wide range of ideas and strong connections across the partnership have been highly effective in raising funds for the Foundation.

He set up the Foundation Football Board with Marcus Cossey and has ensured spirited competition each season. With a target of £1,000 per event, Setul has updated the Fantasy Football managers throughout the season with fun and knowledgeable updates.

Setul is also a highly valued member of our Grant Committee and volunteers in his own time as a trustee for The Pegasus Partnership, focussing on children’s education. Setul epitomises the We Care value in actively making a difference in The Openwork Partnership community and his own local community too.