CEO Message – January 2024

Hello Everyone,

The festive celebrations are long passed, but as this is my first communication of the year, I’m going to say it anyway… Happy New Year! I hope you, your friends and family had a fantastic time over the holidays last month and that you’re excited for the year ahead, just as the staff team here at the Taverners are.

Firstly, I’d like to say a huge thank you to all of you that contributed so valuably to our festive fundraising efforts. So many great people organised events, attended them, often with their guests, donated auction prizes, provided sponsorship and made generous donations at over 30 events around the UK in the run up to Christmas. I was privileged to attend a number of those events, and it really hit home to me just how many wonderfully committed people from so many different parts of the country are invested in the Taverners community and what it is we do as a charity – Very inspiring indeed with over half a million pounds of funds generated at this time of the year alone!

We focused on and combined our We Belong campaign with our end of year fundraising (at events and through our digital and online messaging). A big thanks to our Marketing and Communications and Engagement and Partnerships teams for working collaboratively on this, and a big thank you goes out to all of the staff, cricket programme Development Officers and participants for playing their part in bringing this all to life and helping us raise awareness of the importance of belonging in cricket, as well as demonstrating how our programmes successfully create safe, inclusive environments in a range of communities across the UK. There are still so many more young people facing the challenges of inequality who don’t have access to the great game of cricket due to social and economic barriers, and we have a significant and crucial responsibility to play in ensuring cricket becomes the UK’s most inclusive sport.

We have now moved into our new workplace in Victoria, with the staff team now settled in to the new location. The Duke of Westminster’s fantastic new Grosvenor Estate development, known as Fivefields, provides us with the very modern, A grade, accessible and inspiring environment we need for today’s organisation to thrive. The move also ensures a significant cost reduction of over £350,000 per year when compared to the costs of our previous workplace in Chancery Lane. This is entirely thanks to the incredible generosity of a grant from his Grace the Duke and his family through their Westminster Foundation. Furthermore, Fivefields also houses many other charities in the ‘hub’, allowing us to collaborate, learn from others and partner with other likeminded organisations. The move is a huge leap forward for the charity and the start of a new era as we continue to develop and evolve our culture… I am sure everyone will take to it just like our staff and all of the visitors who have been in to see us this month already have.

We’ve got a big year ahead of us with plenty of exciting things to look forward to. Our programme activity is growing all of the time and our soon to be released 2022/23 Impact Report will tell everyone all about the fantastic outcomes our young people have achieved in the past year as a result of participating on our programmes. If you don’t follow our website and social media channels regularly I would encourage you all to do so, as there are so many impactful stories of individuals and communities being told by those who have benefited from our work and your commitment to supporting the charity. The report will bring to life the important impact of what we do with rich, colourful stories told by the young people, their parents and the incredible team of Development Officers and coaches who share from their lived experience with such passion, enthusiasm and humility.

The first bit of news from 2024 that I’m very happy to share with you all is that we have recently signed the Muslim Charter in conjunction with Nujum Sports, as part of our ongoing commitment to becoming the most inclusive charity we can be and continue playing our part in ensuring cricket is truly a game for all.

A key objective in our strategy is to become a values led organisation, and as part of that we set out to demonstrate our commitment to ensuring equality, diversity and inclusion is at the heart of all that we do by embedding it into our organisational culture. Committing to the Charter, which will help us create a framework to self-evaluate and better understand the needs of those of Muslim faith, is another step towards doing just that. Please click here to find out more about the commitment we’ve made as an organisation and the charter. This is just the start of initiatives of this type and I am confident it will be the catalyst for us to demonstrate our commitment to people from all communities as we strive to achieve our ambitions to be a truly inclusive organisation.

There are many ways you can continue to support our work throughout 2024 with a number of events planned. Look out for further details on our events surrounding International Women’s Day in March and our golf day’s are already booked in for the year if you’d like to book your place. Our regions have events planned across the UK, so there will be opportunities for everyone to get involved and support the charity in some shape or form.

Speaking of which, our London Marathon team in March is set to be our biggest ever with over 60 runners this year, and Adam Collins’ Final Word podcast team will be raising funds for the Taverners in Edinburgh at the end of May with 45 runners taking part in the three running events taking place across the city’s Marathon weekend. We have charity places available in a number of other challenge events that you can see on our website, and if you want to follow in the footsteps of our London and Edinburgh Marathon runners as you embark on your new year’s fitness plans, please do get in touch with the team.

Finally, looking even further ahead to 2025, amazingly, the 75^th year anniversary year for the charity will soon be upon us. Exciting plans are beginning to take shape ahead of a huge 2025 already. We’ll update you on next year’s festivities to mark this special occasion in due course, but for the time being, we’re fully motivated as a team to ensure the charity’s 74^th year is yet another hugely successful one for the thousands of young people our work reaches around the country and overseas each and every week.

Thanks again for your support and here’s to a huge 2024, I look forward to seeing you all very soon.

Best wishes,
Mark.