The charity and network are entirely self funded and we have a policy of not charging participants, ensuring all sporting memories activities offered are free to all attending. This means hours and hours are spent applying for grants to ensure local groups are established, but are also sustained.
We know the groups can have a real impact on the physical and mental wellbeing of older people, there are so many more aspects to the activity than purely reminiscing about favourite sporting moments. New friendships are formed, trips out get arranged and sports are rediscovered.
The real excitement today was seeing the first of our runners taking part in this year's Great North Run, Jamie Weston, set up his justgiving page and immediately get a £10 donation! https://www.justgiving.com/JamieDoesGNR
Also running for Sporting Memories is Katie Mansfield whose Dad was a very keen athlete and keeping the sporting theme her Grandfather captained Leyton Orient in the 1930's (read more here)
You can sponsor Katie via her justgiving page here: https://www.justgiving.com/Katie-Mansfield2
We will reveal more runners this week, all of whom have a special target they are aiming to raise funds for (more on that too)
running
a 400m sprint against his friend, Chris Chattaway, in 1960 - See more
at:
http://www.sportingmemoriesnetwork.com/charity/fundraising/#sthash.WXBj3R9Z.dpuf
After
he retired Dad suffered a series of mini strokes which eventually led
to him developing vascular dementia quite young - he was only 73 when we
lost him to pneumonia in 2010. He had lost the power of speech due to
the vascular dementia, but always seemed happy, especially when we sat
and read his Orient history book with him which had photos of my
Granddad in. I wish Sporting Memories had been around when Dad was still
with us - I really believe he would have enjoyed to sit with a trained
volunteer and reminisce about his sporting history. - See more at:
http://www.sportingmemoriesnetwork.com/charity/fundraising/#sthash.WXBj3R9Z.dpuf
After
he retired Dad suffered a series of mini strokes which eventually led
to him developing vascular dementia quite young - he was only 73 when we
lost him to pneumonia in 2010. He had lost the power of speech due to
the vascular dementia, but always seemed happy, especially when we sat
and read his Orient history book with him which had photos of my
Granddad in. I wish Sporting Memories had been around when Dad was still
with us - I really believe he would have enjoyed to sit with a trained
volunteer and reminisce about his sporting history. - See more at:
http://www.sportingmemoriesnetwork.com/charity/fundraising/#sthash.WXBj3R9Z.dpuf
