Weston Spirit

Why run for Weston Spirit?

There are thousands of young people who need support. Some are vulnerable or at risk, out of work or being bullied. Others may have turned to crime, drugs or alcohol. Many need help on their journey to adulthood. Often it can feel like they have nowhere to turn. Thankfully they have.

Weston Spirit is a national youth charity that provides 'life changing' opportunities to vulnerable young people in some of the UK's most deprived areas.

Co-founded in 1988 by Falklands War veteran Simon Weston OBE, the charity has supported more than 80,000 young people. It has nine centres around the UK, where teams of youth workers deliver the charity’s motivational and highly effective development programmes to young people aged 13-25.

Each development programme is designed to focus on the issues affecting young people in their day-to-day lives. They are all interactive, challenging and fun, enabling young people to build confidence and self-esteem and gain the essential life skills they need to positively move forward and reach their full potential.

Weston Spirit believes that every young person deserves a chance - and that chance starts with them understanding, valuing and believing in themselves.

Just £10 can provide a young person with a contact session with one of Weston Spirit’s youth workers. From here, they can offer the support needed to enable young people to direct their energy into something positive - benefiting themselves, their families and their wider communities.

By running the Royal Park Half Marathon in aid of Weston Spirit, you’ll be providing vital opportunities to young people in the UK and helping to turn young lives around. Click here to find out how to register.

How it all began…

The charity was co-founded in 1988 by Falklands War veteran Simon Weston OBE and his two friends. Based on their personal life experiences, they wanted to offer inner city youth a real alternative to exclusion, apathy, unemployment and a potential life of crime. With an initial investment of £300 - from their own pockets - they jotted down the reason for creating Weston Spirit on the back of a beer mat...'personal development, confidence and self-esteem'...and these still remain the central themes of the charity today.

The original Weston Spirit belief that all young people, particularly those deemed socially excluded or vulnerable, should have a sense of belonging and opportunities to share their fears, anxieties and ambitions, still remains at the heart of the charity’s operation.

 Find out more about Weston Spirit at www.westonspirit.org.uk