News

We are extremely proud to announce that The Standing Tall Foundation has been awarded The Armed Forces Covenant Employer Recognition Scheme Bronze Award. This is in national recognition of our commitment to the Armed Forces.

The Armed Forces Covenant supports those who have or do proudly protect our nation, who do so with honour, courage, and commitment.

They acknowledge and understand that those who serve or who have served in the armed forces, and their families, should be treated with fairness and respect in the communities, economy and society they serve with their lives.

The covenant focuses on helping members of the armed forces community have the same access to government and commercial services and products as any other citizen.

This support is provided in a number of areas including:

• Education and family well-being
• Having a home
• Starting a new career
• Access to healthcare
• Financial assistance
• Discounted services

We are passionate about working alongside them, and delivering the services as a Foundation that we do, to further help Servicemen or Ex-servicemen in the community and surrounding areas.

Here at STF, our key aim is to promote the mental and physical health of all community groups, which we further extend to those in financial hardship via the provision of grants, resources or services made available to us.

It has therefore been incredibly busy at the Foundation in the last few months, as we have not only been helping community groups via various initiatives and group sessions, but also people on an individual basis who have found themselves in need.

Here are some of the highlights from the last month:

KB

Ex-serviceman Kabelo Moeletsi, former infantry, 3^rd Battalion, Yorkshire reached out to our Chairman of the Foundation Andy, who he served with in Afghanistan, when he found himself in a very difficult situation. He was struggling to find work, and currently sofa surfing in Bristol. Within hours, he was on a train to St. Helens and Andy had found him somewhere to live with the help of one of our Foundation Partners – Cosey Rentals.

Through his close working partnership with Menzies Distribution, Andy was able to liaise with Fleet & Engineering Manager, Anthony Roe, who Andy had served with in Northern Ireland. Their combined understanding of the needs of veterans enabled them to find Kabelo the right role and put support in place.

The following morning, Kabelo went for an interview at Menzies, and we are delighted to report that he not only got the job, but is also now successfully training as a shunter driver at their Ellesmere Port depot.

As Andy says “Veterans don’t need a handout! What they need is a hand up onto the employment and housing ladder and to feel VALUED.”

WALK FOR WELLNESS

At the start of March, we launched our “Walk for Wellness” initiative, led every Thursday, by our physical and wellbeing coach Terry Bates.

The walks are designed to allow you to escape from the everyday stresses of life and dedicate some time to YOU.

These sessions allow you to walk and talk, therefore improving your mental wellbeing, as well as getting you fitter in the process! They are walking routes that explore the local nature in St. Helens, helping you to feel more in touch with the world around you and guaranteed to boost your emotional health.

You can find out more here.

HEALTH, WELLBEING & RESILIENCE BUILDING SCHOOL INITIATIVE

Our Physical Health and Wellbeing Coach, Terry Bates recently delivered a highly successful training course in Health, Wellbeing & Resilience Building to the Year 5 pupils at St. Bartholomew’s Primary School in Rainhill.

The main aim of the programme was to build confidence and mental strength using a range of teaching and facilitating methods. Children’s Health can be affected by many situations and experiences. This course was aimed at developing confidence, a stronger mindset and self – awareness towards the many areas of an individual’s health and wellbeing. The aim was to build pupil resilience for improvement and prepare them to become the best version of themselves.

Our Chairman Andy Reid MBE also contributed to the course by delivering a brilliant introduction on dealing with adversity and Developing Mental Toughness.

We are currently seeking funding in order to be able to roll this fantastic initiative out to more schools in St. Helens and the surrounding areas.

You can find out more here.

It’s been a fantastic and rewarding month here at the Foundation, and we cannot thank our Partners enough for the continued support they have shown. This enables us to deliver our Counselling and addiction support services, as well as helping people on a group and individual level.

We are excited to announce that we have gained 3 new partners in the last month to add to our Foundation Partner stable.

Holland Alexander

Holland Alexander have been creating high-end events, production and audience campaigns since 2005. As well as an impressive International client portfolio, they also create fantastic digital events for awards ceremonies, unique packages and business conferencing.

After meeting Andy as a guest speaker at one of their live events in 2021, they were inspired by his story, how much he has achieved, and his mission to help others. They were delighted when Andy reached out to them to work with us on producing future events for the Foundation.

 Andy Reid MBE said: “I first met Holland Alexander when I was booked as a speaker for a corporate event in Leeds. I arrived the night before the event and was met by Louise and fully briefed on next day’s plan even though it was clear Louise was extremely busy, she took the time to do that which I thought was very professional, and the next day the event was amazing and nothing was took much trouble. So when it came to planning my own event it was a no brainier to contact them. Myself and everyone at the Standing Tall foundation are delighted to have them as a foundation partner and very much look forward to working with them on future events.”

We are ecstatic that Holland Alexander have proudly announced the Standing Tall Foundation as their Charity of the Year 2022.

You can read the full story here.

Chorley Group

Founded as a family business back in 1989, Chorley Group has grown into an award winning organisation operating internationally with six key dealerships and four franchises across the North-West of England in Lancashire/Greater Manchester.

Chorley Group Chairman/Founder Andrew Turner began trading in 1989 as Bugle Inn Motor Co with a firm commitment to develop a reliable family business brand in the North West England. Over 30 years on, Chorley Group now operate some of the world’s largest motor franchises.

Andrew says “Our family ethic and values set us apart from our competitors. We are founded on and remain focused on the principle that no matter what we will be, “Big enough to cope…but Small enough to care”.

Steve Caunce

Originally formed in 1985 as a partnership by Steve and Lynn Caunce, after facing redundancy for the fourth time, they decided to go it alone. Purchasing one van and a jetting machine they worked from their dining room at home. The business has expanded and moved three times over the years, each time to a bigger premises and started trading as a Limited company in 1999.

Steve Caunce Limited are Environmental, Industrial Drainage and Pump Specialists with over 30 years’ experience in the industry and a large portfolio of Blue Chip clients.

We are delighted to have you all on board and looking forward to working together from now on!

If you are interested in becoming a Foundation Partner, please contact our CEO and Co-Founder John Tabern.

john@thestandingtallfoundation.org.uk

You can find out more about our current partners here

Our Physical Initiative and Wellbeing Coach Terry Bates recently delivered a highly successful training course in Health, Wellbeing & Resilience Building to the Year 5 pupils at St. Bartholomew’s Primary School.

School is a fun and exciting time, but it is also full of countless challenges, setbacks, failures, and difficult situations. Just like adults, children have to deal with pressure, stress and challenges and still perform at school.

As children transition from Junior to High School, they need to start learning to listen to the teacher to improve and thrive.

This course was designed to develop awareness towards health and to build self-confidence and resilience to enable this.

The main aim of the programme was to build confidence and mental strength using a range of teaching and facilitating methods. Children’s Health can be affected by many situations and experiences. This course was aimed at developing confidence, a stronger mindset and self – awareness towards the many areas of an individual’s health and wellbeing. The aim was to build pupil resilience for improvement and prepare them to become the best version of themselves.

Our Chairman Andy Reid MBE also contributed to the course by delivering a brilliant introduction on dealing with adversity and Developing Mental Toughness.

Other topics covered over the duration of the course were:

• Our Holistic Health  –  Resilience and life effects
• Basic First Aid – Medical conditions,  dealing with situations.
• Positive Mental Health and Wellbeing – Self Confidence,  Working up the confidence scale
• Aiming High – Be the best version of you, Making decisions, positive outlook
• Team Building activities and problem solving

The course ended with the children being presented with a certificate of achievement by Terry and our Chairman Andy Reid MBE.

We are currently seeking funding in order to be able to roll this fantastic initiative out to more schools in St. Helens and the surrounding areas.

To discuss how we could work with your school, please contact:

Terry Bates 07799 033323

terry@standingtallfoundation.org.uk

We are ecstatic that Holland Alexander have proudly announced the Standing Tall Foundation as their Charity of the Year 2022.

After meeting Andy as a guest speaker at one of their live events in 2021, they were inspired by his story, how much he has achieved, and his mission to help others. They were delighted when Andy reached out to them to work with us on producing future events for the Foundation.

Ellen French, Digital Manager at Holland Alexander said; “It is an honour to work with Andy and his charitable foundation goals. After watching him present at one of our conferences in 2021, I was so inspired by his positive attitude and commitment to helping others. The Standing Tall Foundation values very much align with our own at Holland Alexander, so when Andy approached us to produce one of this charity’s upcoming events, we were totally inspired to take it one step better and make the Standing Tall Foundation our nominated charity for this year.”

Holland Alexander have been creating high-end events, production and audience campaigns since 2005. As well as an impressive International client portfolio, they also create fantastic digital events for awards ceremonies, unique packages and business conferencing.

 Andy Reid MBE said: “I first met Holland Alexander when I was booked as a speaker for a corporate event in Leeds. I arrived the night before the event and was met by Louise and fully briefed on next day’s plan even though it was clear Louise was extremely busy, she took the time to do that which I thought was very professional, and the next day the event was amazing and nothing was took much trouble. So when it came to planning my own event it was a no brainier to contact them. Myself and everyone at the Standing Tall foundation are delighted to have them as a foundation partner and very much look forward to working with them on future events.”

We are honoured to be named as their Charity of the Year and really looking forward to working with Louise, Ellen and their team to produce the upcoming Standing Tall Gala dinner/awards event in September 2022.

More details on how to get tickets and location will be available soon!

Here at the Foundation, we are always looking at new ways in which can offer help to those most in need. We have been fortunate enough to have been given access to a Thin Air machine, which our founder Andy, has been regularly using in preparation for his Kilimanjaro climb in October. 

The thin air machine delivers much lower concentrations of oxygen than people breath in normal air – similar to being at the top of a mountain.

Andy believes that depriving his body of oxygen has helped alleviate his symptoms of PTSD.  Other veterans found the same, giving rise to the question of whether more research should be done into breathing ‘thin air’ – as a potential therapy.

Further research is still underway as to whether the device can be used in a general sense, but with the benefits Andy has seen, we would like to offer the opportunity to any veterans who think they may be struggling with PTSD, depression and anxiety, to come in and have a chat with us.

You can read the full article from Forces.net and watch the video HERE

Last week we were privileged to be involved in the Veterans – A Journey into FM Event at Old Trafford, Manchester. This was a live networking event designed to support veterans in the Facilities Management Sector.

We were delighted to represent the Foundation and make more people aware of the services we offer and how we may be able to help them.

Andy was also the main key note speaker and shared his amazing story of strength, experience and hope with everyone.

It was great to see some old and new faces, and to forge some new valuable connections for the Foundation moving forward.

Thanks to everyone that came to see us and listen to Andy’s talk and thank you to our friends at JobOppO and This Week in FM for organising!

Here are some highlights from the day:

We are excited to announce that our “Walk for Wellness” project, with Willowbrook Hospice has launched.

Our first session took place on Thursday, and we kicked off with a beautiful walk around Taylor Park in St. Helens.

Led by our physical wellbeing coach Terry Bates, the walks are designed to allow you to escape from the everyday stresses of life and  dedicate some time to YOU.

These sessions allow you to walk and talk, therefore improving your mental wellbeing, as well as getting you fitter in the process!

WHEN?                Every Thursday

WHAT TIME?     1.30pm – 3pm

WHERE?              Willowbrook Wellbeing Centre, Borough Road, St. Helens, WA10 3RN

Please come and join us!

We are super excited to announce we will be hosting our very own Queen’s Jubilee Garden Party Extravaganza on Saturday 4^th June 2022.

This will be an all-day outdoor event with a Marquee for everyone to attend and join in the fun!

The day will include Face Painting, Bouncy Castle, Outdoor Games, Cadet Training, Hog Roast, Cake Stalls, Crafts, Entertainment and much much more! There will even be a fancy dress competition and exclusive show reel of the Queen’s speeches throughout the decades.

There will also be limited Exclusive VIP tickets available for £20 including afternoon tea & Entertainment from 11.30am- 1.30pm (more info to follow!)

All donations on the day go to The Standing Tall Foundation with proceeds from the Café and Hospice shop going to Willowbrook Hospice.

WHEN?               Saturday  4^th June, 10am – 6pm

WHERE?            Living Well Centre, Borough Road, St. Helen’s, WA10 3RN

COST?                  Free Entry to the public! All donations on the day will be greatly welcomed

Don’t miss out! Save the date in your diary now and more details will follow in due course.

We are excited to announce that The Progress Group have become the newest partner to join the Standing Tall Foundation Family.

The Progress Group pride themselves upon changing lives by innovating, influencing and inspiring others through the power of education and training. Via their group of subsidiaries, they aim to support thousands of individuals each year to achieve their goals.

Via their specialist training arm Complete Training Solutions, they offer a wide range of training solutions across many sectors, including the ever-expanding wind energy sector. The UK is currently on track to become carbon neutral by 2050, thanks to government investments helping to reduce emissions.  In particular, the wind energy sector in the UK and North West Europe is thriving more than ever before. This has led to some fantastic job opportunities becoming available across the wind industry.

Learn more about this exciting industry, the opportunities available and how you can become part of it HERE