The Charity was set up in 2021 in memory of Josh to provide support for young people to take up a sport that they love or would benefit from a school activity club. Our initial strategy was to understand which areas the charity would be able to support, noting Josh's love for sport and surfing, and using these to focus on driving positive mental health and wellbeing in young people.
As Josh was part of the surfing industry, we explored the possibility of providing activity days at The Wave in Bristol for young people with Special Educational Needs (SEN). It quickly became evident that we are able to provide funding that would enable SEN schools to take a group of students to experience surfing at The Wave, giving them an opportunity to try an activity they may not have otherwise experienced. The positive impact that this had on the young people was overwhelming, so we have sought to continue to support such opportunities.
As a result of the success of the surfing opportunities, this has become the main focus of the charity and our fundraising efforts, noting the alignment with Josh and his love for surfing. However, Josh also loved his sport and our wider objective is also to support young people with access to all kinds of sports, so we remain open to consider any opportunities that do arise.
Our charity is not a surfing or sports organisation and thus we cannot provide facilities ourselves. We will however continue to provide funding to young people to experience surfing opportunities, alongside any young person who faces barriers to accessing sport and requires support for club fees and sports kit, should we receive recommendations from schools and Local Authorities in Somerset. Any support that we put in place will initially last for 12 months and if individuals want to continue, club fees can be paid again and more kit provided (this will be reviewed annually up until the age of 16).
We would also like to note our thanks to The Wave in Bristol for facilitating these surfing opportunities - without their commitment these sessions simply would not happen.
We want to continue to provide sporting opportunities for youngsters who face barriers in accessing sport. To enable us to continue, please feel free to contribute by making a donation to the charity or consider becoming a regular donor. For example a regular donation of Just £2 a month with Gift Aid from the government will help provide more than one student with a two hour surfing lesson.
How we raise funds?
Josh's birthday fundraiser
To kick things off, on launch day, 31st Oct 2021,we started a collection for Josh’s birthday with a JustGiving link. Because sport was close to Josh’s his heart we will do a similar collection each year in his name to help fund our Projects.
James ran the Western Super Half Marathon carrying a surfboard on March 27th 2022.
James was regularly seen running the streets around Cheddar and 5K Park Runs carrying his surfboard in training for his sponsored challenge. Get in contact if you would like to make Phrenix.org your chosen charity to run and raise funds for. We will supply running T shirts.
Stuart’s Muddy Brothers
Stuart (one of our ambassadors) and a number of his friends regularly surf the Sever Bore, a tidal wave that ocurrs several times throughout the year. They are called The Muddy Brothers, basically because they do get extremely dirty and muddy entering and exiting the Severn. Last year at their Christmas bash they had decided to choose Phrenix as their charity to support for the year and raised over a thousand pounds. Thanks to them this will enable us to provide some great experiences for students this year.