Episode 1: Full Transcript

Welcome to the show

Tim Beynon: Hello and welcome to The Charity Show the podcast for charity Insiders by charity Insiders. My name is Tim Beynon head of marketing engagement at The Fire Fighters Charity.

Piers Townley: And I'm Piers Townley, PR manager of The Brain Tumour Charity And every fortnight, we're going to bring you insider insight and expertise from charities across the UK so that we can all learn, to do what we do better.

Tim Beynon: That's right, the charity show is all about helping you to improve the way your charity works. Whatever your role, whether it's comms, fundraising, volunteering or service delivery, we want you to be inspired by the people and charities we feature, in every episode.

Piers Townley: And this show is all about you too. If you work for a uk charity or fundraise for one, we want to hear from you. Send us your comments and questions, tell us about the great things your charity is doing, nominate someone for a mention and generally get involved. All the links you need are in the show notes.

Tim Beynon: So that's what the charity show is all about. Whatever your role in, whatever charity you work for, give us a follow on your usual podcast platform and let's get on with the show.

Coming up in this episode

Hello and welcome to the charity show with me, Tim Boynan, and meet Piers Tamley. Piers, this is episode one. We're here. how are you feeling about all this? Exciting.

Piers Townley: Exciting. To get it to this point. I think it's going to be a great insight into the third sector. Hopefully we can get lots of, contributors, lots of different topics, lots of angles that we can expose, talk about and explore, share ideas, share experiences, from fundraising, to corporate comms, to celebrities, to anything that's out there in the news.

Tim Beynon: Yeah, there's just so much we can get our teeth into. But in this inaugural episode, it seems fairly apt that we're going to kick things off by talking about how you go about launching a new charity with Alex Staniforf from mind over mountains. But before we get to Alex, and to kick off each episode, we're going to take a look at, what's caught our eye across the sector.

A genius campaign, involving a bridge!

And piers, you found an absolute belter this week, and I believe it's got something to do with a bridge.

Piers Townley: I nearly got on the train and travelled into London and over onto Westminster Bridge just to see this. I think this stunt was a, little bit of genius. it was set up by the Oddballs foundation. Now, oddballs support a lot of things more. You've probably seen them with their coloured and very brightly coloured underwear garments, but it's to raise awareness of testicular cancer in men. Now, the foundation has been going for many, many years now. And this stunt that they employed, agency to do involved the actual architecture of Westminster Bridge. On either side of the bridge. The architecture and the little holes they have through the ornamental brickwork when the sun shines through puts a very peculiar, silhouette, a very peculiar shadow onto the, onto the road. Now, in a slight squint and a slight sideways look, this shape, this shape looks like basically a penis and some testicles. And along the bridge on either side with the sun coming through, they lit up or they lit up. They shadowed 497 of these shapes. And then the agency blitzed the side of the bridge with the call to action, which was cheque your balls. This is the way to cheque your board. It was to raise awareness of, testicular cancer. And I just thought that was genius. A little bit of viral campaign work, something that was just so innovative across the social media, people are talking about it. They got some great content filming on the bridge. Obviously getting people's surprise when they were pointed out what these silhouettes that, a lot of people just walked by and don't even notice and obviously just captured that brief moment where the sun was in the right place. So, I mean, the thing, the brainstorming that went behind that and the testing of it must have been fun to do. I'm sure they were praying for some sunny weather recently. That's not been the case as well. But as a, as, as a stunt, as a pr stunt, as a marketing awareness stunt. I just thought that was a little bit of genius there.

Tim Beynon: yeah, genius. There's nothing like a well thought through, piece of pr like that.

Piers Townley: It's arresting, isn't it? I saw it and the link to the actual architecture that they'd use and then I came away. Six people every day are diagnosed with testicular cancer. And it's one of those, the equivalent of an earworm. It's something that sticks in your mind because it was so unusual and so striking and so I think, very, very clever.

Empathising with those you support through tech

Tim Beynon: Okay. There's been some interesting things this week when you dive into, do a Google news search and you see what comes up. One thing that I spotted that I thought was fascinating, and this is all about empathy, about how you, as someone who works charity, can empathise with the people you support. So age UK, in Derby and Derbyshire. Derby and Derbyshire, branch of age UK, new, starters there, have been trained to understand mobility issues. On reading from a BBC news website here, have, been trained to understand mobility issues in the elderly by wearing a specialist suit. So they've been using the geront gerontologic. I've said that wrong. The gerontologic test suit gert. To prepare to deliver their community falls prevention classes. Each part of the simulation suit is designed to make the wearer feel the physical effects associated with getting older, such as stiffer joints, decreased mobility and reduced grit. I mean I feel some of those.

Alex Staniforth: On a day to day just getting.

Tim Beynon: Out of bed and warning sometimes. But I think that was fascinating because I read somewhere a little while ago as well. I think there was a dementia charity that did something similar about designing a suit and some goggles that kind of gave me the perspective of what it was like to suffer from dementia. So I think this whole area around how you can help people to understand and empathise with the people you're supporting is fascinating. So that really jumped out at me as something that's I'd love to see how other charities could try and do that. How can you try? And I mean, from a firefighter's charity perspective it might be quite interesting from the public's perspective to try and put them in the shoes of a firefighter attending an incident or something like that. I don't know, lots of things we could think about but I thought it's a great story.

Piers Townley: I think you're right. I think I remember a long, long time ago, I think it might have been an autism charity that had an interactive VR kind of simulation that you could. It was, noises were coming off all different directions. It was set in a shopping mall. I think it was taken from the perspective of a little boy shopping with his mum. And the noises from different angles are getting more and more and the disorientation they were trying to sort of emulate through this VR, little presentation. So I think there's lots of ways you can do that, especially maybe mimicking symptoms of diseases or illnesses as well as you say, mobility issues to give people an understanding and perhaps get an insight into the specific needs of a specific ailment or a specific charity.

Tim Beynon: Yeah, I mean, I think that'd be fascinating. I love to find out a.

Alex Staniforth: Bit more about that.

Tim Beynon: I think we should probably see some stage on the show. We can get somebody in to talk about that. A charity that's used that maybe we could talk to age ah UK or something like that. So let's put our feelers out. Anyone listening who has experience of this or uses such things in their charity. We'd love to hear from you, so get in touch.

Piers Townley: I think we just want to see some of the tech involved. There's going to be people out there working with VR goggles, for example, and all sorts of sensory seats and, yeah, research stuff.

Tim Beynon: We can go and give them a go, mate. We'll see how we get on. At a time when the country and the world is recovering from a pandemic, when the cost of living crisis is biting hard and there's huge demand on every penny in our pockets, how do you go about launching and establishing a brand new charity? Our guest today, Alex Staniforf, did exactly that. Co founding Mindover Mountains in 2020, Alex sought to help others to deal with their mental health issues through offering them time outdoors, blending spectacular scenery, activity and fresh air with professional mental health support. Having suffered with his own mental health throughout his life, and having found solace in the mountains, albeit twice, narrowly escaping death on Mount Everest, he has also overcome a lifelong stammer to become an inspirational speaker and set up a charity that is today supporting hundreds of people each year. So Piers and I caught up with Alex to find out what mountains he had to climb to launch an exciting and much needed new charity.

Alex Staniforth - Welcome to the show

Piers Townley: Hi, Alex, welcome to the show. Really good to have you on. Tell us about mind over mountains. What's the elevator pitch you use to describe it to others?

Alex Staniforth: Thanks, Piers. Yeah, great to be joining you. the elevator pitch from out of the mountains is, I better get this right, because it's been a work in progress. We, are a mental health charity. We combine walking in nature with, I guess, you know, professional mental health support. So coaching, counselling, and mindfulness, and creating a safe space. No pressure, no expectations for people to walk and talk and to boost their, mental and physical fitness.

Piers Townley: Fantastic. I was looking at your website. I love the strap line that you have. The natural health service, I think that's a little stroke of genius there. You've been operating and the chart has been up, Alex, since about 2020, is that right?

Alex Staniforth: Yeah, yeah. So just on the natural health service, that's the unofficial mantra. I'm not sure how peaceful that is nowadays, but, it's something I've always kind of used and come up with. I've probably pinched it from somebody else, but it's something that really kind of resonates with me and it really sums up, that's, to be honest, that sums up our charity better than I could just then. We started as a CIC originally, in 2019, and we did our very first event in 2018, which was kind of a pilot event, which is kind of where the inspiration came from. So we converted to a charity in 2020, but given other, events happening in 2020, that process took a little longer than it probably would have done.

Piers Townley: If you could summarise the impact that the charity has had, Alex, since 2020, how would you talk about that?

Alex Staniforth: Well, we've just released our latest impact report, which covers a lot of that stuff, because there's been so much, it's often hard to kind of quantify that, you know, and as a mental health charity, a lot of the evidence and impact is anecdotal. You know, it's definitely quantitative. So it's kind of quite hard to. To portray that we've helped such range of people from, you know, people in the general public. But I think the most impactful work we've done has been with the blue bias emergency services. So essentially what we do is we deliver day walks and weekend retreats, combining all these elements of walking and that professional mental health support by using the environment not only to boost our fitness and our health, to give us that perspective, but also to, open up those chats and conversations that are otherwise difficult to have in a face to face environment, and also providing faster access to the support that people need. I'm sure I'll talk more about how the charity started, but ultimately giving people that easy access to. To that support that they need when they need it most, working with the blue light services, you know, the NHS, the police and the ambulance service, the amount of trauma that they faced during the pandemic, in particular, giving them some clarity, some time, some care for themselves and compassion has just been transformational. And there's one guy that I can mention who came on, one of our retreats for the police. And as a result of that, he said it was like the best weekend of his life. And I remember quoting him, he said it made him realise he's got a lot to live for. And he went and did a marathon, his very first marathon to then actually fundraise for it, something he'd never done before. And we get a lot of emails and feedback from people and the fact that a lot of them come back time and time again, they see it as a topple, something that they need on a regular basis, for me, is the best silent of the impact.

Tim Beynon: It makes fantastic work, Alex. And, you know, it's amazing to see some of the difference you're making to people's lives, and especially mental health is such a, such a talked about subjects, in the media, and I think when we put this episode out, it'll probably be mental Health Awareness week, I think, as well. So it's probably quite a timely conversation to be having, at the moment.

The inspiration behind Mind Over Mountains

But tell me a little bit about the inspiration you touched on the inspiration there for the charity. A little bit. But tell me a little bit more about that in terms of what inspired you to launch the charity and then also what inspired you to launch it in 2020 when the world was heading towards somewhat of a lockdown on a global scale. So tell me about those two things.

Piers Townley: Sure.

Alex Staniforth: So, first question around inspiration. It came purely from my own experiences. I think most charities start with a problem and trying to be a solution to the problem, and every charity exists to not exist. Sadly, I don't think we're ever going to eradicate a problem as big as mental ill health. I've suffered with my own mental health battles since you've been a teenager. I've been very lucky that I've been pretty high functioning, but I've had anxiety since I was a kid, several bouts of low mood M and depression. I had an eating disorder, bulimia, for eight years. And I naturally and fortunately found me outdoors and running or walking or cycling just gave me a way not to cure that, but to manage it. And I feel that everybody should have access to that. I think with access to more, natural tools, it's not just a plaster on the problem, it's a proactive tool for stopping people getting to a really good place. And so what really struck me was when I did climb the UK, which was one of my big challenges. And, I mentioned before, climbing to the highest of all the counties in the UK, nearly 5000 miles of cycling, walking and running, kayaking. It took me longer to get an appointment for my bulimia than it did to cycle, run, walk 5000 miles, and I was like, wow, I feel really fortunate because I've got something, I've got something that can help me get back up again from the trough. What about everybody else? And it really struck me. And the idea for might of the mountains was never really planned. I mean, I never planned to start, ah, a charity at 24. But the demand and the need was there. as a result of being open and talking about my struggles, writing on social media, writing blogs and articles, all the press around the climate UK challenge gathered quite a lot of interest and I got approached by a group called adventure uncovered, who wanted to do an event just to promote the benefits of the outdoors and mental health, and they wanted me to be, like, an ambassador to that. So naturally, I kind of threw myself at it. And with m my friend Chris, we designed this weekend retreats, which combines all the elements I've just mentioned. And I guess I wanted it to give people tools, not just walking, because we know that helps, but you have to keep on doing it. How can you give people tools that they can use every day? And so it kind of built it around that concept. We've stayed with that approach ever since. I don't think there's anybody else that is quite using that same combination. And that's means the combination is what makes the difference and the impact. But we did that weekend in 2018 in the Lake District, and it was just, we were blown away by it. We thought we had something quite powerful, so we decided to do it again in 2019. And then we thought, if we register as a charity, then we're going to be able to get funding and reach more people. We started the registration process in spring of 2020, and obviously not having a clue what was going to happen next. We had our very first trustee meeting, literally, as this was all kicking off. And, little did we know that we wouldn't have a face to face trustee meeting for another 18 months. But actually, we had a lot of benefits to starting in that because we were so small to be in with. It was just me and Chris and our trustees. So there was no paid staff, there was no assets or anything. We didn't have to worry about cash flow. Like a lot of charities really struggled in that time. We were very agile, I hate to use that word, but we were very agile. And, there were a lot of people needing our help. And although we couldn't do our walks for retreats, we had to cancel everything we had planned, until summer 2020. We just adapted. And so with a name like that, we couldn't just sit there and wait and say, right, well, we'll come back in six months. We had to adapt to our approach. And so the opportunity behind that was our weekend retreats. We condensed into a one day walk, which allowed us to get around all restrictions on rule of six and group sizes and booking accommodation. and now those day walks are a huge part of our offer because they're a much easier step than booking a weekend away when you've got kids and commitments and anxiety's high. And so actually, we were able to grow very, very quickly because of it. And we were in a position to help people. So that was what we were there to do.

Tim Beynon: Every cloud has a silver lining, as it were.

New charity admin

Incredible. Strike me, as, incredibly brave.

Alex Staniforth: Of you to not only launch at.

Tim Beynon: That time, but also, you know, at 24 and having had that, personal experience and setting up of the events that you have done, did you have any idea at that point of the kind of administrative task that was lying ahead of you in terms of setting up a charity? Or was that very much a sort of baptism of fire when you got to that point?

Alex Staniforth: Definitely baptism of fire. the charity commission did not make it easy. They want to put hoops up for everybody. Luckily, Chris had been a charity trustee, so he had some experience, whereas I had none whatsoever. And that was why we started as a CIC, because we. So much easier. We were able to operate without having all the governance and the trustees and things. It was actually probably would have been harder. It would have been easier. Sorry, it would have been easier if it just started as a charity. It's the conversion process that got really confusion. But I won't spend an episode talking about that. Yeah, I really opened my eyes and people ask me quite a lot. I've had a message this week about asking for a glice and starting a charity and I'll happily share anything I've learned. the initial setup wasn't too bad, but I think at that point I had never even imagined that the charity would be where it is now. And the irony being that 2021, about a year later, both Chris and myself had burnt ourselves out and I was in a really, really bad place, which is kind of ironic for a mental health charity. And I'm sure there's many small charities out there that are, you know, kind of found the led having a similar position. And that was when I had to say, sort of say to our board of trustees, this isn't sustainable. We made a decision that we needed to, kind of hire somebody full time employer, CEO or an MD. And so we did that and now the charity is absolutely flying and it's allowed me to step back and support them where I'm most impactful. but, yeah, not so much the admin, but just the operations. Because we were so small, we didn't have much resource, we didn't have the funding for the resource, so we kind of had to do a lot of it ourselves. And we were driving all around the UK to these events and various things. And, emotionally, as long as I. Full time jobs and everything else, it was kind of quite a lot.

Piers Townley: That's quite an uphill struggle, especially with the financial, the financial demands of setting a charity up.

How is the charity funded now?

What peculiarly was the difficult part of that, Alex, and how is the charity funded now?

Alex Staniforth: Well, all of our events to start with were pay to attend and that was still on a subsidised basis. So because all of our staff who run the events, they're all trained coaches, counsellors, walk leaders and psychotherapists. So there was a cost to doing what we do. And as always, PCOM is often the biggest cost. we had very, very little in terms of admin because we were just doing this off the side of desks. And so I think at the time the funding was coming from. Not only part of it was coming from the events that we were doing, which created challenges around where we didn't have a minimum number of people on the events, etcetera. But we've been very lucky as an outdoor charity that we get a lot of people doing challenges for us. And obviously all my own fundraising and everything is aimed at that. But that was just the barrier that we didn't have anything really surplus to be paying people, so there wasn't anybody to help us do all the operations and the admin. So it was challenging. But again, in the pandemic, luckily we weren't having to cut back anything because we just, you know, we weren't spending anything, which is kind of a blessing. So we've had a lot of people doing challenges for us and we got a lot of attention from corporates and sponsors and I've got a background doing that for my expeditions. So it was quite an easy sell because the well being and the mental health agenda is so, so known and so do people are affected by it? fast forward to now. We are obviously a lot more strategic. so Ian R. CEO joined us in February and they've just been doing an amazing job. We now have a small team of five, and eleven trustees, including myself. I've stepped well back from the operations, which is a real blessing because I'm not the person to be doing that at all. But we still rely heavily on community fundraising and people doing challenges today. At the time of recording, we've just launched my biggest challenge yet, which is called project 500, which is helping us raise half a million by June next year, which is quite frankly terrifying. But I'll probably come back m later. We've been very lucky with grants as well, because there is a lot available for mental health and Kulpritz and fundraisers doing challenges for us. But also, our patron, who help us to enable what we do. So it's a real mix of things, but we are a bigger engine now because we need to reach more people.

Tim Beynon: It's an incredible story of growth in a short period of time, especially over that period of huge uncertainty around COVID and where everybody, all churches had to work in a very agile way in order to cope with changing circumstances on.

Piers Townley: A daily, weekly basis.

Tim Beynon: So incredible.

The difference made by a Chief Exec

But tell me, what difference hiring a chief is that has made, in terms of the day to day operations and what strengths does that person bring to the charity that perhaps weren't there before?

Alex Staniforth: Oh, God, so much. I mean, stability, strategy, steadiness, calmness, control, everything. It's. I've learned a lot from it, you know, we've been very, very, very lucky, you know, and just the challenge of being a founder like charity is there was never really a, there was never really a leader. We were both kind of leaders, and I was very experienced and, you know, Chris was a lot older than me, but the rest of the team were very frustrated and directionless because you don't have a leader in place. And Ian brings so much experience as a charity, as a chief exec, that we desperately needed and solid fundraising experience. Strategy. We just released our free end strategy, and I've never seen or know anything about this before, so I'm learning everything we do. But just for me, I think to know that the vision is in such safe hands, and that I don't need to be monitoring it, I can just trust that everyone on board is so passionate about cause and what we do, you, know, having somebody working on this all the time, is what was needed. Because if you volunteer, then you're only then going to be limited by people's availability and goodwill. So the experience, the contacts, the grants, everything, it's just been, it's been a phenomenal experience. And, you know, the charity is now in a very, very positive place because of that, you know, and I think until you get to that point, you're only going to be a small charity, which is fine for some people, but we want to be our natural health service. We want everybody to be doing this, you know, and that's the vision. So you need a team to make that.

Taking a step back

Piers Townley: That's a really interesting point you just made there, Alex, about that safe pair of hands. So now you feel that your project, your baby, is now in a safe pair of hands with you and Chris stepping back slightly from the day to day. Was that a tough decision. Does it still, still feel a little bit tough for you? Would you just feel like proud parents?

Alex Staniforth: I describe it sometimes, like watching your kids go off to school when I don't have kids, watch them fall over and make all the mistakes, but it hasn't been like that at all. And I joke I'm the chief interference officer now because, it is kind of my baby and it's the challenge I'm most proud of, the kind of idea that we came up with and, you know, Chris and I were for a long time, and he was a, mentor and coach first and foremost. So to create something like that, I think we are both really proud of it. We know that there's a lot more to be done and we're not perfect. But, when I look back at it recently, what was really quite profound was, being on an all team meeting on Zoom at the end of the year and there were a lot of people that I didn't even know and that's not taking interest. But just because the team of our coaches and walk leaders is expanding faster than I can keep up with, it needs to get to the point that, for me, is a sign of success when you don't know what's going on. Another great friend said to me, you only need to know about the really good bits and the really bad bits. You know, let, just let everybody run the thing. And to be honest, a sense of gratitude, because it's allowed me time to protect my mental health and also to focus energy on other things because, for most founders, the charity can be like a full time job and it was a full time unpaid job for a while, which isn't conducive to, you know, everything else in my life. And, yeah, I mean, we've just launched a new site as well. And, like, I look back at that and I pinch myself and it's like, how did we get to here? And I know we're already getting started, but it has been hard at times and I've stepped over the line and then I've been aware of that and pulled myself back, but I now have a floating presence rather than, trying to nitpick all the time.

Looking to the future for Mind Over Mountains

Piers Townley: And you mentioned about you only just getting it started, obviously. Could you summarise how the charity is looking for the future for the next few years, next five years especially? It is a tough third sector climate at the moment. The environment out there is cost of living crisis. There's a lot of pressures, a lot of stresses. How is the charity embracing and looking forward to move through that.

Alex Staniforth: Yeah, I think, as I said, we've just released our three year strategy, which is going to, you know, which outlines a lot of that. It's all around growth, reach and access, because we want to reach the people that need it most, which is going to be a lot around social prescribing. And, what is really big for us this year is all of our day walks are now free to attend. So beforehand, people paid a small amount, essentially, if theyre invested in the process, if they pay a small amount, theyre more likely to turn up and benefit. But those walks are fully funded by various charity partners and grabs, which is exactly where we want to be. another milestone quite recently was seeing an article in the news, about us, where gps in Derbyshire had actually been prescribing our walks to people. And that fills me with goosebumps, because that is exactly what the charity was meant to be, that people arent just given pills and medication like I was, which there is a need for that sometimes, and I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that, but it's not the only answer. And that's where we want to be in terms of three years. We want to, grow the number of walks that we do, but it's here to more regents. We need to do that more sustainably, because at first, in 2021, I got a bit excited and said, well, let's go there, go there, go there, let's just be everywhere. But then you might only be in an area once or twice, and therefore people find you and then want to kind of come again. But we had people driving from, like the south coast to the Lake District for a weekend, because there was nothing near them. So we need to build communities, then we can expand from there. And moving into Scotland in the next three years is our strategy. More work around social prescribing and underprivileged groups, is where we're going to make the biggest impact. So much of the same, but just expanding reach, and, building communities, really, and looking to be in, every national park in the UK within the next few years.

Tim Beynon: Big plans, lots going on.

Raising half a million pounds

Alex, tell me a bit. I'm, fascinated by what you said earlier on about project 500. Tell me about this challenge to get to 500k by June. Did you say June next year?

Alex Staniforth: June next year, yeah, June 25. Thank goodness. Project 500 was an idea that came towards the end of last year. Basically. I've personally always done challenges myself for charity, and obviously now for mine in the mountains and it becomes a bit of a treadmill. You do a challenge and a challenge and the next thing, the next thing and it's a way of raising money but it feels like a very crowded space and it just doesn't feel like the most effective way. So next year will be my 30th birthday, and so it'll be ten years since Everest 20, 2015, which is kind of when my life changed and everything else. and what really struck me recently is that people think of Everest and adventure as dangerous and risky, but actually the biggest killer of under 35s in the UK is suicide. And so a lot of people aren't going to reach that big 30 milestone. So how can I create a legacy, something that's going to really mark that in a positive way? And I've had a lifetime goal of raising a million but actually half a million feels a lot more doable. But there's no way that I'm going to do that on my own by just doing challenges, I mean unless you're an A list celebrity and doing a challenge, realistically you're just not going to raise that much. So I thought, well rather than having the target of doing the challenge, why not set the target as half a million that way, do a number of challenges towards that, but engage other people, engage our community to set their own 500 challenge, whether that's five k, 500, you know, steps, whatever, to help get them outside, get them active and create this movement towards June next year because they said there's no way I'm going to do that on my own. So that's when the idea came about and I've been sat on it for a while and it's a big commitment, it's terrifying. It's bigger than everest. But we realised that as a small charity was what we need to do to get into, as Ian describes it, to get into our, next orbit, which I think is true. I mean, I've technically made a career out of, you know, Everest twice. So even if we don't hit the target we're going to raise a lot more money and we're going to get a lot of people at them. So that's, that's the project. And so we've gone live today and so we're looking for, you know, individuals to set themselves a challenge. Organisations and corporates, you know, get their teams involved, you know, whether it's doing challenges or just help them to sponsor it. And also schools of community groups, you know, if they want to do some fundraising, we'll do some virtual talks on wellbeing and resilience to educate them. So there's kind of the three strands really, you know, workplaces, you know, activity and, and mental health awareness. So, yeah, it's, it's kind of a, really big daft idea. But a good friend of mine, Jeff, said to me, you've just got a jill.

Tim Beynon: Daft ideas are often the best ideas. So I think it's incredibly worthy, Alex.

Alex Staniforth: And we wish you the very best.

Tim Beynon: If somebody listening to this wants to get involved and wants to get in touch and wants to help out, how can they do?

Alex Staniforth: So please do. Yeah, we're going to need everyone we can. the best place is to go to our website, mindovermountains.org dot Uk project 500. And they can find it all on there. They can register, they can find out more information, get our packs, everything else. I mean, the deadline as such is June next year. So there's plenty of time to get involved, but we want to really build that interest and momentum as we go.

Piers Townley: Fantastic, Alex. Everyone needs to dust off their walking boots.

Alex Staniforth: Always a good idea. Always a good idea. Alex, thank you for your time.

Tim Beynon: M. It's been, it's been amazing.

Alex Staniforth: Great, great to catch up again.

Tim Beynon: We're going to keep in touch. I want to find out how that challenge goes, and I want to get back in touch in three years time to find out how the strategy's gone, see how this new three year strategy has gone.

Alex Staniforth: But thank you for today. No problem at all. It's been a pleasure.

Stars of the show - Amazing fundraisers and volunteers

Tim Beynon: Okay, so in each episode of the show, we're going to spend a bit of time looking at people who've done amazing things, whether they're fundraisers, whether they're volunteers, whether they're people who work for charities, individuals who've done amazing things. And we're really hoping that people listening to the show right now will nominate individuals, for future episodes. But today, Piers and I have picked up a few people that we think, are worthy of a shout out. And, Piers, you're looking back at the marathon. First of all, I am, yes.

Piers Townley: It's something that I've had the privilege of not running. I don't think my knees are up to it. But being involved with the charity for several years now, and I just think it is an iconic event. It's such an amazing day, it's such an amazing atmosphere, and it's so inspiring to see all the charities and everyone who runs. My, admiration is for anyone who runs a marathon.

Alex Staniforth: That's number one.

Piers Townley: And the second part, is anyone who runs a marathon in a costume, because I just think that's just crazy. And this year, I think there were over 1700 different charities of ran for tens and tens of millions of pounds raised. But you would see big bends, you would see rhino costumes, you would see taps, which I think were for water aid. You would see people coming up with the most outrageous costumes, let alone running the 26 odd miles, just to do that in a costume for a particular cause, I just find it awe inspiring. I think if you could bottle that kind of atmosphere, that bottle that kind of drive, I think you'd be a very fortunate person. And also, personally for us, for the brain tumour charity, we had one particular runner who stood out for us, and that was Nicola. Ah, Nuttall. She's, a wonderful, wonderful lady. She ran with her husband, Mark. But Nicola and Mark, were running it as a legacy for their daughter, Laura, who sadly died of a glioblastoma brain tumour last year. But this year, Nicola decided to wear her tutu with it. And on the tutu with the names of over 250 people affected by a brain tumour. And it was simultaneously just heart wrenching, but also inspiring. And over on our social media, you would see everyone just be so thankful that Nicola would include the names of their loved one on her tutu and the sentiments of, you're carrying that person with you, that person is running alongside you. It was just, a gobsmacking thing to do. And as a charity, we're so grateful for Nicola doing that in memory of Laura. But beyond that, anyone who goes above and beyond just sticking a running vest on and running the marathon and running the London marathon, which I think is probably one of the best in the world, was just superb. And to be there and to soak up that atmosphere this year, just to see all the broadcasts and to see all the stories in the media, it was an inspiring and remains, for me, one of the highlights of the charity year and a highlight of the year, in a sporty fixture. Anyway, I couldn't agree more.

Tim Beynon: I mean, I ran it myself in 2019. Whenever I watch it now on the telly, I kind of get a bit emotional watching it. It's an incredibly emotive and inspiring event, and you're absolutely right. Anyone who runs it, people like Nicola, and there are thousands of Nicolas running for thousands of different charities, and it is incredible. Every single person is an inspiration, and like Nicola, raising incredible amounts of money for charity. But I remember you're absolutely right about people running in costumes. Something that has always struck me is that they're doing it there on the day, but they've also done it in training. So you've got people in dinosaur costumes.

Alex Staniforth: And dressed as Big Ben running around.

Tim Beynon: Little towns and villages all around the UK in the cold, bleak winter by themselves. That must look hilarious for anyone else watching.

Piers Townley: I think it's just phenomenal. We had a husband and wife who were handcuffed to each other. I don't know how you get the rhythm of that. I don't know whether you'd still stay married by the time you reached the finish line. But, you know, they started off together. They started off handcuffed, they crossed that finish line. Whether there were arguments along the ways to receive, but, yeah, the dedication. I think you're right. Tim, is just incredible.

Tim Beynon: Yeah, absolutely. Well, here's to everyone around the marathon.

Alex Staniforth: Well done, everybody.

Tim Beynon: So then my first one is Russ cook. You've probably heard of Russ Cook. He's hardest geezer. He's the guy who ran the whole length of Africa. and he's everywhere at the moment. You can't miss Russ at the moment.

Alex Staniforth: I think he went for a run.

Tim Beynon: Recently with Rishi Sunak. I don't know how that compared to running Africa. Anyway, he also, I think, took part in the London marathon recently as well. So he's been all over the place and run with due reason as well. He raised over 1 million pounds for two charities, actually, the running charity and sandblast. And just taking a closer look at that challenge, he ran for 352 days a whole year. The, equivalent of something like 385 marathons to cover 10,000 miles, the, length of Africa, through some incredibly dangerous places, skirting around some war zones and taking on that incredible challenge. And goodness knows some of the things he would have had to overcome, during that trip. But he put it all out on social media as well, got a huge following and was able to raise that huge amount of money. I think Russ is incredible. I think those kinds of people who take on those extreme challenges, but also not only that, but have the ability to harness and gather a huge following behind them, generate a huge amount of money for charity. they all deserve a medal. Amazing people. So Russ was, my first choice. And, it reminded me of, a Chuck called Ben Smith, actually, who's from Bristol, my neck of the woods. And he ran four, hundred one marathons in 401 days back in 2016, for two, anti bullying charities. and I've met him and spoke to him and he's an amazing guy. Incredible guy. Still doing some great work. he set up a foundation, actually, a charity of his own as a result of that run. And, I just think anyone does those kind of extreme challenges deserves a great shout out. So Russ was my first one.

Piers Townley: I think this is very good. I think if you could bottle the psychological motivation and bottle whatever it is that makes people do those to keep on going, you'd be very, very wealthy. Anything that goes beyond, the normal is just incredible. And Russ obviously had a fantastic gingerbread as well, but he was, to see him do it and just think there must be points where you just can't go on and just walk. And when you do, you carry on and you carry on.

Tim Beynon: Wow. I know. Amazing guy. Amazing guy.

Alex Staniforth: Yeah.

Tim Beynon: So that was, that was Ross. And then my second one was a seven year old boy, from utoxeter, chap called James, who is this, this month, hopefully he might have already done it, I don't know, but I'm going to find out and we will talk about it next. Next episode. But James is climbing, Mount Snowden for charity. He's seven years old. He has a diagnosed with numerous cavernomas, which is a brain condition probably you may be familiar with piers, which is a cluster of normal blood vessels on the brain. At ten months old, he has seizures, balance issues and headaches and has to have lots of MRI scans, and so on. and I'm again reading from the news website, here, back in December, made the make a Wish foundation granted James his wish to go to Lapland in Finland. And now the youngster is hoping to give something back. I just think that's an amazing thing to do. You know, there's so many charities that help young people and, children like James. and he's taking it upon himself to give back. And he's climbing Snowden with his family, as a way of sort of saying thank you. So hats off. Hats off to him. So, yeah, here's to James and all the other children who do amazing things like that.

Piers Townley: And fingers crossed in some decent weather as well.

Get in touch with the show

Tim Beynon: So that's episode one in the can. We're up and running. Beers.

Piers Townley: Yes, indeed. And, we've got some great episodes coming up too. We're going to be looking at things like how you rebrand charity, what makes a great charity film, why the great british public donates, and what difference high profile supporters can make.

Tim Beynon: Liking the sound of that all sounds pretty good. And if we can attract the odd listener here and there. That would be good as well. And there's loads of ways, if you are listening, that you can get involved in future episodes, too. We'd love to hear about the great work your charity is doing, for example. Or if you've got an idea for a topic or a story you'd like us to cover, let us know about it.

Piers Townley: Absolutely. You can get in touch through the links in the show notes or email us at, thecharityshowpodmail.com. So why not come onto the show as a guest yourself? Or perhaps take a second to nominate a brilliant fundraiser or volunteer for a special, special mention?

Tim Beynon: And in the meantime, please follow us on your usual podcast platform and leave us a review, both of which help other people to find the show.

Piers Townley: So that's it for episode one. Take care, and, we'll see you very soon.