William Wates Memorial Trust: Marmot Tours Charity of the Year
A year ago, we announced our decision to support the brilliant William Wates Memorial Trust (WWMT) as our charity of the year. We set ourselves the target to raise £5,000 and we’re very proud to announce that we raised £5,214 with the help of our riders and all those who were happy for us to donate £50 of their deposit when they sadly had to cancel a booking. It’s fabulous that something good has come out of your cancellations!
For many reasons we have decided to continue our support for this worthy cause for a 2nd year and will be continuing to donate £50 for each cancellation we receive, plus we will donate £25 for every client who signs up to fundraise.
“Supporting projects that encourage disadvantaged and vulnerable young people to keep away from anti-social behaviour and criminal activity, enabling them to fulfil their potential”.
– WWMT’s mission
Why have a charity of the year?
We think it’s really important to give something back. We know how lucky we are and if we can support others who need it, that has to be a good thing. We continue to be very impressed by WWMT’s diligent accountability and absolute commitment to getting measurable results from their grants. They support projects that directly impact the kids who most need their help. Their passion is genuine and their determination to turn the tragedy of losing Will into something positive is totally humbling. We are very proud to support their work.
Tour de Force
Really understanding the charity you are supporting makes all the difference when you are ‘digging deep’ on a training ride or up some savage 14% section! The William Wates Memorial Trust is a small, family-run Trust. The Trustees are Will’s family – his parents (Andrew and Sarah) and 4 brothers (Tim, Jonny, Rick and Monty). Will died during his gap year in Central America as a result of street crime in 1996. The family set up WWMT because they wanted to do something in his name to make a difference – to stop similar tragedies happening on the streets of the UK.
We know that going on a visit to meet one of the charities supported by WWMT makes a huge difference to the riders who do it. Seeing their work first hand is interesting, humbling, inspiring and puts you in a much stronger position when asking your supporters for donations. We have been invited to join the Tour de Force (TDF) charity visits – so do come along if you can. (NB ‘Tour de Force’ is the WWMT’s own fundraising event and many Marmot riders have taken part in it in recent years).
- Monday 20th Feb Chaos Theory 4.30pm
- Wednesday 29th Mar WHYC 6.30pm
- March (date tbc) London BMX 6pm
If you can’t make it to one of these, they can organise a visit specially for you. Just get in touch with [email protected] to organise.
“Actually meeting some of the people involved in, and helped by, the charities really helped me realise what the work put in was for and put into context the triviality of the challenge of just cycling” – John, 2014 rider
How can you help (and why)?
Many of our European road cycling holidays, and particularly our challenges, lend themselves perfectly to sponsorship opportunities. If you want your challenge to have an even greater impact than that on your own well-being, cycling ambition and waistline (!), then we would love you to join us in supporting William Wates Memorial Trust.
“The kids your money is helping, have never had anyone doing a turn at the front to shelter them from the headwind, or someone just slowing up to provide company when they could have gone on ahead to get some extra personal recovery time at the hotel. By cycling with Marmot Tours and fundraising for the William Wates Memorial Trust, your experience will go way beyond your own personal glory by helping these young people, who have not been as lucky as we have in life.”
– Phil Deeker, TDF lead cyclist 2010-2016
We have a Marmot Tours Campaign Page using Virgin Money Giving, to which you can easily link an individual page for your own sponsorship as per our instructions. It takes just a few minutes to get set up, attach a photo and then you can send out your page link to friends and family and get fundraising!
Case Study
One of WWMT’s newest projects is probably their most exciting yet – and it’s certainly their biggest! Through Access Sport they are supporting the Olympic Legacy project London BMX. WWMT will be funding improved infrastructure, a good outreach programme, strong role models, robust measurement, growth potential and sustainability. By developing and proving the model, Access Sport will be able to attract the investment needed to build and expand their impact to all boroughs of London and new cities.
WWMT resources to help with fundraising
The following are available from Marmot Tours for you to use in your fundraising efforts :
- email templates for approaching supporters
- sponsorship form
- Certificate of thanks
For the following resources, contact Tracy on [email protected]
- collection tins and buckets
- raffle ticket templates
- WWMT pens and gift aid envelopes for accepting donations
A personal message from WWMT Trustee Rick Wates
“Riding with Marmot Tours may well be the biggest cycling challenge you have ever undertaken. It’s going to be emotional – there will be highs and lows, pain and discomfort as well as joy and laughter. There will be times when it takes everything you’ve got to get out there and train, and other days when you are flying on the bike. When it’s tough, know that others are suffering much more and when it’s wonderful, remember how fortunate you are. Supporting a charity while riding with Marmot Tours will give you a level of satisfaction that other bike rides cannot achieve. By doing something you love (even when it hurts) you are helping give others opportunities in life that most of us take for granted. On behalf of the Trustees, thank you for supporting our work” – Rick Wates, WWMT Trustee
If you want to donate rather than fundraise…
Obviously every penny helps, so if you would rather just make a donation to the Marmot Tours WWMT Campaign rather than raise funds for your Marmot Tours cycling challenge, then just follow the link and you can make your contribution via Virgin Money Giving
