Thankful Thursday- A big ‘thank you’ to one of our corporate partners, Bowbridge Homes

When you look up the definition of ‘thankful’, you will see the definition ‘happy or grateful because of something,’ or words to that effect. To say that we are ‘thankful’ to our corporate partners seems to be a little bit of an understatement though. Without their ongoing support, we would not be able to impact the lives of so many young people every year.

One of our longest serving partnerships is with Bowbridge Homes, a relatively young property developer based locally to us in Corby, who approached us after learning about the impact of our programmes in schools in the area.

The partnership between Bowbridge and Mintridge is nothing short of a match made in heaven! From our initial meetings, it was clear that our message of harnessing the power of sporting role models resonates with Bowbridge’s Managing Director. Oliver is passionate about sport and the benefits an active lifestyle can have both physically and mentally, sharing with the Bowbridge employees on a number of occasions the direct impact that he has seen from sporting role models when he has visited the Mintridge Foundation programmes.

“I went along to the first of these sessions at Campion School in Bugbrooke on Tuesday and was amazed that at such a young age, the kids really got the message.  It isn’t about being great at a particular sport, it’s about taking that ethos, that you need to practice and persevere to be good at something and applying it to everyday life goals, whatever they may be.”

We soon learnt that, as a business, Bowbridge Homes has a strong ethos of community. Their developments have community in mind from the moment of their conception, both as a part of the community that the developments are built near and as a community within themselves. Managing Director, Oliver Purday, wanted the business to ‘give something back’ to these communities, understanding the business’ responsibility to benefit society.

Early in their relationship, Alex, our director, suggested to Oliver that Mintridge could run our Silver Programmes in schools locally to Bowbridge’s developments. This benefits Bowbridge through increased brand awareness in the locality but also, more importantly to Bowbridge, aims to provide the future generations in that town or village with key life skills and an understanding of the importance of an active lifestyle.

Bowbridge can proudly say that they were able to directly impact 623 pupils in three locations in 2019. There are plans in the pipeline for further programmes near Husbands Bosworth and Raunds, with more developments being planned across Northamptonshire, Lincolnshire and Norfolk in the not-so-distant future. All of which will get the Mintridge treatment, allowing us to reach more and more young people.

We are excited to be returning to Windmill Primary School in Raunds with Tokyo Paralympic hopeful and Team Mintridge Superstar, Dan Powell (and Elmo, Dan’s Guide Dog of course) in May to deliver a highly anticipated Silver Programme.

Alex doesn’t need much encouragement to speak to a captive audience about Mintridge’s work and she has had the pleasure of feeding back to Bowbridge Homes at their quarterly staff meetings. Bowbridge’s website states that they build houses that people are proud to live in, but it was clear the pride their employees felt when they saw the results of the partnership. Some of the quotes from pupils and staff at the school highlighted the impact that our Silver Programmes have had.

“I would like to thank Bowbridge for funding the Mintridge Foundation visit to Campion school. All staff and students alike were greatly inspired by the visit and there was a real buzz around the school of those students who were in the talks with James. It was also raised by parents at the parent forum last night at how beneficial the talk was. We are now excited for the next six months of mentoring.”

After the most recent meeting, there has been a lot of planning amongst the staff. We don’t want to give anything away just yet but let’s just say that some of them are planning to test their fitness and endurance to the extreme later in the year to raise funds for Mintridge. We can’t wait to share with you the highs (and inevitable lows) of their adventure and the total raised.

Like all good partnerships, the one between Mintridge and Bowbridge is constantly evolving. Watch this space to see what we decide to do collectively in the future.

In this exciting Olympic and Paralympic year, we would love to hear from your business or organisation about opportunities within your Corporate Social Responsibility and how we can develop a great partnership like this one!

Please contact Alex Wallace if you would like to discuss more? alex@mintridge.org.uk

To learn more about Bowbridge Homes’ latest developments, visit www.bowbridge-group.com

If you would like further information on our Bowbridge Programmes to date, you can find them here:

Manor School with Pamela Cookey

St Andrews Primary School in North Kilworth with Kevin Batey

Campion School with James Golding

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