Monday Motivation – Oundle Business Goes Above & Beyond To Support Northamptonshire Charities, After Umbrage & The Mintridge Foundation

As spring is in the air on this beautiful March day, we are taking time to reflect on the wonderful support received from Brew Babu over the past few months. We hope that this will give everyone a little Monday Motivation heading into the rest of the week with the success of Oundle’s Boutique Brew Bar and online retailer.

According to the Directory of Social Change, in the UK, if 1 in 20 small businesses gave just 1% of their income, it would create £1 billion of new charitable funding every year. As we know only too well from our friends at Work For Good, small businesses can have a powerful, positive impact, whatever their size and Brew Babu have done just that for two Northamptonshire based charities, After Umbrage and the Mintridge Foundation.

After Umbrage provide free, short breaks for anyone who has been looking after family members or loved ones with life limiting or terminal conditions. The charity was founded by Tara Belcher who is also a trustee for the Mintridge Foundation and therefore, immediately there is a deep connection between the two charities, but it goes far beyond this too, largely centred around the support that each charity gives towards creating positive mental health for their beneficiaries. Dedication and strength is needed to continue a caring role and the impact that it has on mental health is significant. The Mintridge Foundation achieves positive mental health for young people through its team of Olympians, Paralympians and other sporting Ambassadors. With Brew Babu’s support spearheaded by the extraordinary Sam Woodfield, he has a close connection to each of these causes.

The fundraising kickstarted in late November to get everyone into the Christmas spirit with an evening’s “Jingle and Mingle” celebrating all that we love about the Oundle Community; being together and supporting each other in beautiful surroundings. Jingle and Mingle held at the wonderful Brew Babu saw guests arrive from local businesses as well as supporters of both After Umbrage and Mintridge for a glass of fizz, the best mince pies out there, a raffle and auction with the greatest of goodies and to hear about some epic challenges on the horizon. Kindness and collaboration at its very best.

The collaboration was something which continued throughout December as guests from Jingle and Mingle were treated to a voucher to enjoy coffee on the house with a percentage of their further sales donated to the charities. WIN WIN ALL ROUND!

We haven’t even discussed the pinnacle of this fundraising campaign yet and boy, is it worth the wait? Do you enjoy that time between Christmas and New Year? There’s a chance to rest up and recuperate, have the occasional walk and watch too many re-runs of Gavin and Stacey… we’ve all been there, right? Well, that wasn’t the case for Sam Woodfield who turned to his love of cycling.  

Sam sadly lost his mother to cancer in 2015 after being her primary carer. Since his mother’s passing, Sam has used his bicycle in many forms; a way of controlling feelings and emotions as well as grieving his loss. This regular activity quickly became an addiction with behaviours escalating rapidly towards a diagnosis of the eating disorder, orthorexia and exercise dependency. Despite now slowly recovering from the physical consequences of overtraining and under fuelling, Sam is determined to change the narrative on the mental consequences he has faced personally which is what led him to the challenge in question. The challenge also helped to raise awareness of both After Umbrage and the Mintridge Foundation, of which we know that there is a close connection to Sam’s heart with both.

This leads us to the challenge…

Every year since 2010, Rapha has laid down a festive riding challenge: to ride 500 kilometres between 24th - 31st December. The Festive 500 started in the South of England but in the eleven years since, it has grown to become a global challenge. 500km wasn’t enough for Sam though, oh no…

Sam rode 1000km (or 1012.4km to be exact) over 4 days. Wow, let me just repeat that. Sam rode 1012.4km over 4 days, that’s an average of 253.1km (157.3 miles) a day.

As Sam shared on Instagram, how can you condense a challenge of such magnitude with so much pedalling and many supporting bodies throughout the 601 minutes of cycle time into a blog? We are struggling to do that here, but we hope we can convey how much this challenge resonated with us. For someone to challenge themselves in so many ways for something that they have such passion for is enormous. It was made even more special by Sam ticking over the 1000km on the final evening as he passed his mother’s grave, immediately bringing the reasons for the suffering his body was experiencing home.  Furthermore, for Sam to share his vulnerabilities so openly about what he himself has been through, will go onto help others and that is at the core of Team Mintridge; successful athletes are human too and with a balanced lifestyle, healthy and happy results will follow. Thank you, Sam.

Tara and Alex from both charities thoroughly enjoyed the VERY important role of being the cheer squad; and regularly enjoying a coffee at Brew Babu throughout the four days at the rest stops was obviously a necessity! Why? …The best coffees around, but highlighting the full circle of this challenge and how we are a stronger community when we help each other as individuals, as businesses and as charities.

Sam and Brewbabu have reached £1,720 in valuable funds and we would love to help him reach £2,000. You can do so, just here.

Thanks to our partnership with Sterosport, to help create a recipe for success in reducing injury and maintaining energy as a young athlete, view a short webinar with Angela Jackson Physiotherapy below.

Thank you Sam, thank you Brew Babu. The question that we are all asking is…what’s next?

If you are a carer or know of a carer that is in need of respite, download further information and referral forms just here from After Umbrage.  

To read more about what makes Sam Woodfield’s thoughts, you can read After Umbrage’s blog here.

What are you waiting for? Head to Brew Babu now - you can find it via the map below.

The Mintridge Foundation is a registered charity dedicated to enhancing life skills in young people through sport. We provide a support network for young people by harnessing the power of positive sporting role models. The Mintridge Foundation assists young people of all ages, abilities and physical capabilities to develop confidence and resilience, and creates awareness of the importance of mental and physical wellbeing through sport.

Our team of Ambassadors  - Olympians, Paralympians and other professional sports stars from over 20 sports, both team and individual - work with young people in schools, clubs and academies across the UK. Starting with visits including assemblies, coaching clinics and classroom sessions tailored to each organisation’s requirements, our ambassadors can then provide one- on- one remote mentoring in a safeguarded environment, delivered via technology to build a lasting legacy for individuals.

The Mintridge Foundation’s successes demonstrate the incredible power of sport; from a mentee’s selection to represent Great Britain in their chosen field to enabling disabled children to find confidence and happiness just through participation. Understanding life after sport, we also support our Ambassadors in their transition from active sport to the next stage of their careers.

If you would like to understand more about our mentoring programmes with elite athletes and how they can support the young people at your school or club, please contact Katie Smith.

If you are considering supporting the Mintridge Foundation as a business, organisation or as an individual, head to our SUPPORT US page below.

The Mintridge Foundation

Unit 4, Shieling Court

Northfolds Road

Corby

Northants

NN18 9QD

Tel: +44 (0) 1536 447106

info@mintridge.org.uk 

www.mintridgefoundation.org.uk

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