News

A massive congratulations and thanks are in order for everyone that took part in our recent St Helens Scarecrow Festival with Willowbrook Hospice. There were some absolutely amazing efforts and stand out creations this year so well done!

The Festival took place from the 22nd to the 30th October, with the judging lying in the very capable hands of the hilarious legend that is Johnny Vegas and famiy. He took to social media on Fri 4th Nov to announce his special mentions and the winners, who all won a gift voucher, provided by the man himself.

You can view the video here:

So without further ado, here are Johnny’s Special Mentions:

STRANGER THINGS – Levitating Max

MOANA

JOHNNY WELLY

GRAYSCROW PERRY

And the Winners  (in reverse order)

3RD – ST HELENS HALL – OUR VETERAN & HIS FAITHFUL WIFE

2ND – HAWKINS – STRANGER THINGS CHARACTERS

AND THE WINNER IN 1ST PLACE – THE GRUFFALO!

Thanks once again to everyone that took part and raised money for Standing Tall Foundation and Willowbrook Hospice and congrats to all the winners!!

We hope to see you again next year!

Saturday night saw our annual Scarecrow Ball in aid of the Foundation and Willowbrook Hospice. What an amazing night!

Held at the impressive Totally Wicked Saints Stadium in St Helens, we welcomed over 160 people to the black tie event, which guaranteed a night of entertainment, fun and laughter.

The fantastic Paul Crone from ITV’s Granada Reports compered the night, with entertainment provided by Miguel Doforo’s amazing (and slightly scary!) dance troupe, and musical entertainment from the brilliant band “On Demand” and DJ. They certainly got the dance floor moving!

In the name of fundraising, we of course included a raffle and auction which proved to be hugely successful, raising over £6000 for both charities. We were delighted that the infamous Johnny Vegas was in attendance, helping to raise over £1000 on two of the auction lots, one of which was a bespoke Sony Playstation guitar made by Retro Chimps and signed by the man himself.

A massive thank you to everyone that attended and helped us to raise much needed funds for both organisations, we couldn’t have done it without you!

Thank you to all our sponsors: Smooth Commercial Law, GPE NW Ltd and our table sponsors – EWE Move, Cinema Bar, Reds Cafe, Blue Trust, Pheasant Lodge and Prism.

In addition to this, Bouquet Residence for donating the beautiful venue dressings, and all the other businesses and organisations that donated auction or raffle prizes, helping us to raise so much on the evening.

Lastly, a huge thank you to the volunteers and staff members from our foundation and Willowbrook Hospice who dedicated so much time to planning and organising the event.

Here are some pictures from the night – the official ones are to follow!

We hope to see you all again next year!

As if it wasn’t enough for our Colonel Andy Reid MBE to become the first ever triple amputee to reach the summit, there was another world record also broken on that momentous day. In collaboration with our sponsor Uber Eats, Andy was able to “deliver” the first ever vegan burger to the top of the mountain, 19,341 feet above sea level!

The burger was made prior at British Burger chain Honest Burger in Manchester, and was safely vacuum packed and transported in the team’s luggage in preparation for the epic journey it was about to go on.

It took six days for the burger to travel from the foot to the top of the highest mountain in Africa. The burger travelled approximately 4,522 miles from where it was made to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro by car, plane and on foot by Andy Reid MBE and his team of climbers.

As the team battled with altitude sickness and tummy bugs, we were unsure whether it would make it to the top, but we are delighted to say it did, and it has now broken a world record for the highest altitude burger delivery on land!

Matthew Price, Uber Eats UK and Ireland General Manager at Uber said: “When we heard Andy Reid and the incredible team at The Standing Tall Foundation wanted to work with us to take our deliveries to new heights and break the World Record for the highest altitude delivery on land, we jumped at the chance to be involved. We were proud to raise awareness and funds for an important charity which is dedicated to promoting the physical and mental health of communities across the UK.”

Here are some pictures from the trip to give you an idea…..

Massive congratulations to all the Finalists and Winners at our first ever Standing Tall Foundation Gala Dinner & Awards Night last Thursday.

The event was a fantastic night held at the amazing Imperial War Museum North in Manchester. It saw nearly 200 guests come together to celebrate their support of the Foundation and the brilliant things we have been able to achieve, and deliver due to that support.

The event, compared by the hilarious Pete Emmett was a huge success and we raised a substantial amount of money on the night, allowing us to deliver more Mental Health Counselling and Addiction support services here at the Foundation.

The Winners

List of Winners as follows:

SPECIAL RECOGNITION AWARD

Ged Mason OBE – Morson Group

TECH/DESIGN AWARD

This award is presented to the company or individual that has offered exceptional technical or design support to the Foundation, to ensure the professional and smooth running of its internal operations.

Winner

Jamie Moxon

ARMED FORCES AWARD

This award is in recognition of the fantastic support a company or individual gives to our Service personnel and veterans.

Winner

KH Plant Training

SOCIAL IMPACT & COMMUNITY AWARD

This award recognises the company that has contributed to the development or needs of an individual by helping them and implementing positive change in their lives and the community.

Winner

Auxesia Homes

LOCAL SERVICES AWARD

This award celebrates the services offered by local businesses in the Northwest region, and the support they have shown not only the Foundation, but the surrounding community.

Winner

Northwest Waste Services

STANDING TALL AWARD

This award recognises the outstanding contribution this company or individual has made to the Foundation since it started in 2020.

Winner

Cash Converters

You can find all the images from the awards ceremony and the winners HERE.

We were absolutely ecstatic to be crowned winners of the prestigious Ex- Forces Initiative of the year award at the recent British Ex- Forces in Business Awards 2022!

This is the world’s largest and leading celebration of military veterans in second careers, with a shortlist showcasing the huge breadth of ex-forces talent.

The fifth annual British Ex-Forces in Business Awards took place on 8 September 2022 in the famed Great Room of Grosvenor House, Park Lane. Over 1,000 business and military leaders celebrated 20 winners from 700+ nominations, all of which demonstrated the exceptional value that military veterans add to employers and the wider economy in their second careers.

Host of the Awards, TV presenter Jacqui Oatley MBE, welcomed a series of engaging keynote addresses including from Air Marshal Dame Sue Gray, the first female British three-star officer, Alistair Currie, Global Head of Consumer Banking & Payments at Barclays, and Lt. Gen. Sir Andrew Gregory, CEO of charity partner SSAFA, as well as a programme of live entertainment.

We feel extremely honoured to have won the award, after beating stiff competition from the other nominees in our category. These were as follows:

EX-FORCES INITIATIVE OF THE YEAR

Barclays Military Talent Scheme, Barclays
Forces Transition Group
Military Spouses Employability Programme, Naval Families Federation & Barclays
OnBoarding Officers
Phoenix Heroes
Project Soft Landing, Jacobs
Royal British Legion Industries
Supported Living Gateway
TechVets
The Transformer Lifestyle Company
VetNet BAE Systems

You can view the full list of winners and find out more about the awards here.

We are delighted to announce that one of our service support volunteers here at the Foundation – Charles Callaway has passed his recent Care course with flying colours. 

Working with our Foundation partner Nurture Training and Development who kindly facilitated and delivered the course, Charles has successfully completed a Level 2 Diploma in Care. The qualification was created bespoke, to compliment the services offered by The Standing Tall Foundation, to ensure that Charles developed into his role to provide the skills needed to support people accessing our service.

The course was scheduled over 12 months and consisted of the following units:

Charles was so keen and enthusiastic in his learning, that he managed to complete the course in just 12 months! Massive congratulations to him, we are extremely proud of all his hard work.

Debbie Richards, MD at Nurture Training and Development said:

info@standingtallfoundation.org.uk

We are delighted to announce the Finalist shortlist for our upcoming Gala Dinner and Awards night on the 15th September. Massive congratulations to all those nominated! 

This is the Premier event of the year for the Foundation, in the form of a Gala dinner and Awards Ceremony. This is our way of saying thanks to our partners for their support by presenting awards to recognise this. We will announce the winner of the prestigious Standing Tall Award. This is presented to the Foundation Partner who has made the biggest impact on the people we support. Not necessarily financial, though this is of course crucially important, but in terms of helping the Foundation support our user group.

It doesn’t stop there though, because we have a number of other awards to hand out on the night, all listed below, to recognise the input of organisations that go beyond the pale in supporting us to do what we do. In addition to this, the event will allow to us to raise vital funds to continue the work we do and deliver our Mental Health, Addiction Support and intervention services and support Andy’s epic Kilimanjaro challenge at the end of September.

There will be a drinks reception, 3 course dinner, awards ceremony, silent auction, and musical entertainment. All rounded off with a fantastic DJ! We want you to get dressed up, eat some amazing food, be entertained, and then dance your socks off, while we all celebrate your amazing support of the Standing Tall Foundation.

List of Finalists as follows:

STANDING TALL AWARD

Nominees

Cash Converters

Muse

Morson

Aesseal

TECH/DESIGN AWARD

Nominees

Paramount Digital

Brother

Vinyl Line

Cultivate

Jamie Moxon

ARMED FORCES AWARD

Nominees

Emma Willis

KH Plant Hire

Menzies Distribution

SOCIAL IMPACT & COMMUNITY AWARD

Nominees

Auxesia Homes

Chorley Group Nissan

Nurture Training & Development

Progress Group

Totally Wicked

LOCAL SERVICES AWARD

Nominees

Northwest Waste Services

Accord Wills

Allisons Financial

Steve Caunce

Cosey Homes

If you would like to book a table or tickets, please get in touch with our Marketing and Events Executive Charlie:

charlie@standingtallfoundation.co.uk

For more details, please look on our Events page.

WE HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!

Massive congratulations are in order as on Friday, our Trustee Board member Stuart Brighouse completed the Lakeland 100 Ultra Challenge to raise vital funds for the Foundation.

He completed the epic 105 mile trail race around the Lake District, including over 6300 Metres (20,000 feet) of ascent. The course had to be completed in 40 hours, with the failure rate being a massive 40-50%.

Stu, thankfully defied these odds to complete the challenge, one that he said “was very difficult but is nothing compared to the challenge some people face on a day to day basis. I decided while I was doing this it would be a good idea to raise money for a local charity that helps people face those challenges with the mental health and addiction support services they offer.”

Well done Stu, amazing effort!

We were delighted when the team from the Paul Lavelle Foundation came to visit us last week to present us with a donation from their latest epic challenge.

After the devastating loss of Paul Lavelle in a domestic abuse incident in 2017, friends and family of Paul came together to create The Paul Lavelle Foundation. The Charity was created to raise awareness of male domestic abuse, support male victims and survivors and provide healthy relationship education as a preventative measure.

They have recently completed the Wirral to Le Somme Cycle challenge to raise money for their Foundation, as well as Standing Tall, Alder Hey and Claire House Children’s Hospice, whilst raising awareness of male domestic abuse along the journey. All proceeds are going towards their foundation service team helping abused males and their families.

On June 8th, 50 members of The Paul Lavelle Foundation and their friends, cycled over 4 days to the Battlefields of The Somme in France. This epic journey saw them cycle over 320 miles, choosing the Somme as a place to pay their respects to the fallen, from a war that has touched many people.

Many of the cyclists were close friends of Paul, and are now experienced riders, something that is down to the loss of Paul and the formation of the foundation. This was the first challenge for many of the cyclists, and a lifetime experience of making memories and smiles in Paul’s name.

We are extremely honoured to have been chosen as one of their charities, and extremely grateful to them for their generous donation. They raised over £20,000 in total which is quite simply amazing!

Well done to all those that took part, and we look forward to working with you guys in the future!