It's awards season in Manchester

Each year we work with over a thousand young people in London and Manchester combined, and the only way we are able to reach so many people is through our dedicated volunteers. Our annual volunteer awards ceremony is a chance for us to give back to all our hard working mentors.

The evening began with the quaffing of copious amounts of Schloer before we settled in to award ceremony proper. We had 6 categories this year, each with a short list of nominated volunteers: 

Club volunteer of the year

Charlotte Burgess 

Sonia Jeyaseelan (winner)

Chris Murphy 

Chloe Needler

Molly Smythe

Joe Stead 

Academy volunteer of the year

Hannah Behague

Will Guest 

Yousiff Saxon

Molly Smythe

Halima Shah (winner)

Junior Mentor volunteer of the year

Gabe Cayley 

David Cadwalladr (winner)

The ReachOut character trait award

Tommaso Busolo

Naomi Daniel

Ethan Du-Crow 

Gita Ekaputri

Jade Ledgister

Doxi Misatziou (winner)

Fatimah Nazir

Amina Tumi

Katie Webster

The ReachOut Mentor of the year award

Phoebe Connolly 

Jack Hollis 

Catherine Millar (winner)

Dominic Rouse

Halima Shah

Jonny South

Joe Stead

The ReachOut volunteer of the year award.

Jake Flavell

Chris Murphy

Martha Rawlings

Molly Smythe

Fatimah Nazir (winner)

Congratulations to all the winners. Each award was richly deserved as was each nomination. We would also like to thank every volunteer who invested time in ReachOut this year. You have made a contribution towards a young persons development.

Hackney Half in Numbers

29 ReachOut Runners
13.1 Miles
58 Sore Legs
6 Blister Packs
14 Bananas
5 Water Stops
1 Lucozade mistaken for water and squirted in face
87 High Fives with random supporters en route
32 Jelly Babies
1 Missing Running Vest
An amazing £8049.42 raised (so far!)

Okay so I made a few of those up, but the important ones (first and last) are spot on!

It was a beautiful day and the ReachOut Runners were out in force. Mentors, Project Leaders, office staff, a team from UBS and several individuals woke bright and early on Sunday for the long anticipated Hackney Half Marathon.

Nervous "before" photo

In only it's second year, the Hackney Half is one of the best events of it's kind. It was well organised and the supporters en route cheering, high fiving, handing out sweets, extra water and even vaseline (yes - that actually happened), along with live music from steel drum bands, gospel choirs and tribute acts made for a festival like atmosphere.

Nervous smiles became jubilant grins as each of our runners crossed the finish line with cheers of encouragement and congratulations from the crowds.

Proud "after" photo!

Thanks to all our fantastic runners who took part and all those who sponsored them. We're incredibly grateful for your support.

We’d like to say a special thank you to our brilliant team from UBS. 13 employees joined together to run the race, raising a staggering £4,543.17 in the process – one of the largest team totals we’ve ever seen at ReachOut. This is enough to pay for all of the activities and trips which we provide for young people who attend both the ReachOut Club and the ReachOut Academy. Thank you, Team UBS!

See you next year!

Xavier moves on after 20 years at ReachOut

It is with a heavy heart that we report that Xavier Bosch, is moving on from ReachOut after twenty years in his role as CEO. Xavier was at ReachOut from the very beginning, overseeing twenty years of growth and prosperity. As of 2015 we are working with over 1000 young people a year in London and Manchester combined, helping them to overcome the obstacles of disadvantage and helping them to reach their full potential.

Xavier has left an indelible mark on both Manchester and London, a mark consisting of community action, altruism, and educational equality. The work Xavier has done to build ReachOut to what it is today is just the beginning. There is still a lot of work to do, and we are determined to build upon the rich heritage Xavier has left, and to build a charity that the young people of Manchester and London deserve, and one that Xavier would be proud of.

So on behalf of all our young people, volunteers, staff, and stake holders: thank you Xavier, for everything.

Bloomberg Reign Ended

The sun was shining for our annual ReachOut Cup football tournament last week. Teams from Bloomberg, UBS, Matthew Arnold and Baldwin, Barclays and Oliver Wyman battled it out on The Petchey Academy's brand new astroturf pitches for the much coveted ReachOut Cup trophy. 

Seven of our ReachOut Academy Year 9 boys volunteered their time to put together the event and help run it on the day.  They came in to the ReachOut offices during their Easter holiday, ordering trophies, cutting deals in local supermarkets, drawing up fixtures and sending emails to the team captains, and they all then volunteered a further three hours to run the event on the night – working as tournament stewards, ball boys, judges and trophy presenters.

This year the tournament changed to a 6-a-side format, and the new surface contributed to some excellent passing football on the day.  Despite beating Barclays comfortably in the group stages, Bloomberg were unable to secure a 5^th consecutive champions trophy, as Barclays turned on the style and upset the form book with an emphatic 3-1 win in the final. 

In the slightly confusing presentation that followed, Cavell Duque-Powell (aged 13) awarded CJ from Barclays the Top Goal Scorer award, which Cavell had decided was actually the Best Player Award – CJ was not the top scorer – and Julian from Bloomberg won the Sportsmanship Award.  We want to say a big thank you to everyone who took part, including the ReachOut mentees who volunteered to make the event happen and did a great job on the day. 

We raised a huge £5000 from the tournament, and everyone had a great time.  Look forward to seeing you again next year!

(If you are interested in entering a team for the Manchester ReachOut Cup on Friday 29^th May please contact Heidi.exell@reachoutuk.org)

Bloomberg

UBS

Oliver Wyman

Matthew Arnold and Baldwin

Winning team Barclays with our Year 9 boys

Ryan's tips for a Half Marathon

We asked personal trainer, Ryan, to share some tips for our runners preparing to do the Hackney Half on 10th May. Here are his top six tips for running a Half Marathon.

1. Stretch for 15 minutes after every run so you don’t get tight

2. Hydrate before and after you run

3. Make sure you have good quality, comfortable shoes to prevent blisters and injuries

4. Time yourself while you’re running to make sure you’re on track to meet your goal

5. Do at least an 8 mile run a week before the race – you don’t need to run the whole distance before the actual race

6. Have a good meal before the race but nothing too heavy, you don’t want to get a stitch. Make sure you eat at least 2 hours before the race.

Good luck guys!!

Ryan running the Hackney Half last year