Category: Blog

As we come to the end of 2024, we wanted to thank you for your generous support of the Charlie Watkins Foundation.

In Charlie’s memory, we continue to support young people who are struggling with their mental health and their families, but without you and our Charlie’s Champions helping us to raise funds, we wouldn’t be able to achieve as much as we are doing.

Charlie’s Champions
We are grateful for the fundraising efforts of our Charlie’s Champions during the year. They have undertaken or organised some amazing fundraising events and activities in 2024, including:

• Individuals, like Pete, who ran the London Marathon
• The Lloyds Under 30s who raised nearly £10,000 throughout the year
• Our ‘Walkers and Talkers’ who joined us on a windy day in April and raised over £2,000
• Pen Insurance who have held many fundraising events over the past 12 months
• The golfers who joined us at Royal Blackheath Golf Club in October and raised over £15,000
• Fred Evans, who held a freemasonry charity event, where the chosen charity was the CWF, and raised £4k
• and, of course, our thanks to everyone who continue to make regular donations.

A Wedding Gift
One of the most wonderful ways that Charlie was remembered this year, was on 4 August, when one of his oldest and closest friends, Max Kendrick, celebrated his wedding. He and the wonderful new Mrs Kendrick chose to make the Charlie Watkins Foundation the beneficiary of gifts for those who preferred to donate rather than buying them another new kettle! A big thank you to Max and Charlotte for this most wonderful gesture and to all those who donated so generously.

What we have been doing
We have continued our support of local charities, including YES (Colchester and Tendring Youth Enquiry Service) in Colchester which has helped 137 young people to access mental health support including counselling, with 822 sessions provided, across 10 schools in North East Essex in the past 6 months.

We worked alongside “Headstrong” who hosted a special podcast with Alistair Campbell raising over £10,000 and reminding us all that everyone however young or old, high profile or not are susceptible to mental health challenges. Read more and catch up on the podcast.

We have also provided funding to BCCS, a charity based in Brentwood and that works across Essex, providing support to boys who would usually be resistant to asking for help.

This year we supported the Young Concern Trust in Harlow helping to provide counselling for children and young people aged 11 to 19. In addition, we funded Heads2Minds, a charity based in Maldon, to support children and young people aged 11-16 who have experienced bereavement or grief. Both of these charities are helping young people in their mental health and SMASHING THE STIGMA.

We continue to support Student Minds in the development of their directories for students which is now in nearly all Universities in England and just under 50% of the universities in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Upcoming events
2025 will mark Charlie’s 30th Birthday and we already have plans for events that you can either support or get involved with, including:

• Harry and some of Charlie’s friends climbing the three peaks (Ben Nevis, Scarfel and Snowdon) in April. There is talk that some of the older generation, including me, joining them on the climb up Snowdon! (I am told there is a train!)
• The bi-annual cricket match, with many of Charlie’s old friends donning their ‘whites’, is scheduled for July so please join us for this great day in memory of Charlie.
• It is rumoured that some of our intrepid cyclers will be embarking on yet another gruelling challenge. We wait to hear!
• Towards the end of 2025 we will be holding another major event along the lines of The Oval Ball. Watch this space.

We will share details about all of our events under Current Events. Please make sure that you and as many friends as possible, are signed up to receive our newsletter so you don’t miss the dates.