THE IDEA FROM BODY AND MIND PHYSIOTHERAPY
We at Body and Mind Physiotherapy, Petersfield, have lots of friends and colleagues in the NHS and we were becoming increasingly aware from social media how their mood had deteriorated due to COVID-19 pandemic.
Both Ben and Charlotte have over 20 years of working in the NHS and still support the NHS in various ways. We both met each other working in the NHS and this is why we were so keen to support our friends and colleagues in our local community.
Always looking to help
THE CHALLENGE
We gathered a group of like-minded people over a period of 3 weeks leading up to the 8th February, and set the challenge of running/ walking/ cycling or wheeling their way to 1000km in just 1 week. We had patients from the Body and Mind Physiotherapy team, Physio’s from Body and Mind Physio, clients from Rob Carr Personal Training and combined this with members from Petersfield running group, Petersfield Town FC, the Runnyhoneys running group and other local community groups.
THE FUNDRAISING
Our target was to initially raise £500 via a just giving page, this money raised would then be spent buying gifts from local Petersfield companies and businesses. This will help local businesses that have struggled in the pandemic but also serve as a great way to thank the staff that have been working so hard at the hospital.
THE RESULT – DISTANCED ACHIEVED (2,088KM)
What we achieved was above and beyond what we ever imagined, the community came together and not only hit the target of 1000km in 1 week but we doubled it and actually managed 2088km. There were some stand out performances (Petersfield Town FC provided us with 482km of running) and some great individual performances including from Nawaf Ameir (Founder of another fantastic charity – The Ameir Foundation) who made it all the way to Portsmouth and back on his bike!
Each and every one of our participants excelled and achieved so much more then we expected with personal best results, first time running for 2 years and others walking further than they ever had in one week before.
THE RESULT – FUNDING ACHIEVED (£1,555 – over triple our target!)
An unbelievable amount of people (71) donated and we are so grateful for the wonderful support from the community of Petersfield. Every donation is so important, Petersfield Town FC and their coaching team who donated £200 and all our contributions means we tripled our original target of £500! THANK YOU PETERSFIELD!!
WHAT WE DID WITH THE MONEY
We spent the money on gifts for NHS Staff in local Petersfield businesses and our surrounding local community. We had 6 gigantic planters made to go in the Petersfield Community Hospital Memorial Garden.
Overall we wanted our local NHS Staff to feel appreciated by their local community, and we were pleased to be able to show our appreciation with a challenging community event whilst supporting local businesses.
There will be future challenges so watch this space, but for now lets all have a rest and recover and thank goodness its not minus 3 degrees anymore!!