The Big Give Christmas Challenge

The Bendrigg Trust Big Give Christmas Challenge 2021

Help us raise £30k in just 7 days to enable more disabled people to have life changing adventures!

*****END OF CAMPAIGN UPDATE *****

The 2021 Big Give Christmas Challenge is now over and in just 7 days, you have raised an amazing £34,239 with gift aid! Thank you so much to everyone who supported our campaign, we are so incredibly grateful.


Bendrigg Trust is a specialist outdoor education centre based in Kendal Cumbria. We enable people of all abilities to take part in adventure activities such as Climbing, Caving, Canoeing, Cycling and more! It is no exaggeration to say that for many of our visitors, they have never had the opportunity to try these activities before, let alone together with their friends and family, in such an inclusive way.

In 2021 we have worked hard to be there for our visitors in the aftermath of the pandemic…

Many of our visitors faced the toughest times they had ever faced throughout the pandemic. The Office for National Statistics gathered data relating to the social impacts of coronavirus on disabled people in Great Britain and it paints a distressing picture. The figures show that disabled people continue to be disproportionately impacted by the pandemic in comparison to non disabled people. With the most mentioned ways of life that disabled people were affected being Wellbeing (65%) and Lack of Freedom and Independence (62%).

How does Bendrigg help to tackle these challenges?

Through our residential courses, we provide people of all abilities, disabilities and complex needs, with the opportunity to have amazing adventures, which can be truly life changing. The vast majority of our visitors in 2021 reported a considerable change in their confidence and self-esteem, a greater feeling of independence and inclusion and improved physical and/or mental wellbeing proving that our services really are making a positive difference to disabled peoples lives and tackling the challenges they are facing right now.

The feedback from our visitors also really brings to life the difference that our services make to their lives.

“From the moment we arrived to the minute we left, we had the most amazing time”

“We love coming to Bendrigg it’s a place that allows my son, in his words, to feel free. He enjoys all the activities and every activity is accessible no matter the ability of the child or adult.”

“The most accessible place we have ever been and the most inclusive. It’s amazing. Keep doing what you do here it makes such a difference to young people lives.”

“This was my first real social/activity exposure since lockdown! Requiring self-direction gave a feeling of being more able.”

Why do Bendrigg need funding?

In order to keep our specialist services running, we have to fundraise around £350,000 per year however in 2021 we have had to raise £530,000 to cover the costs of getting the centre back up and running again after having a prolonged time with very little income as a result of the pandemic. That’s for everything from funding specialist equipment such as caving and climbing gear, minibus funding so we can take our groups off caving and canoeing and all-important funding to retain our incredible staff team so that we can continue offering these life changing opportunities to our visitors.

Vitally though, funding is also needed for sponsorship and to subsidise the cost of our courses for our visitors – many of whom wouldn’t be able to visit without this additional support.

“Fantastic funding from Bendrigg. My son has been withdrawn and anxious over the past year but this has really boosted his confidence again. It’s been lovely A* all around, thank you. Without the funding we really would have struggled to find the money to come and therefore we’re really grateful for everyone raising funds.”

Donate during the Big Give Christmas Challenge to see your donation DOUBLED!

As the demand for our services grows, we need to raise more funds to support the Bendrigg Subsidy. That’s why we have gone big in our target for this year’s Christmas Challenge and are trying to raise a whopping £30,000!

During the Big Give Christmas Challenge week (midday Tuesday 30th November – midday Tuesday 7th December) If you donate to Bendrigg Trust via this link during the challenge https://bit.ly/BendriggBigGive2021 your donation will be DOUBLED! That’s right… DOUBLED!

We really need your support to reach our target, so that we can enable even more people with disabilities to have life changing adventures, helping to improve their confidence, wellbeing and give them greater independence.

How Can I Support Your Campaign?

To hit our £30,000 target we really do need your support. There are loads of ways you can get involved with supporting the campaign. The simplest way is by making a donation, you can do this when the challenge begins at midday on Tuesday 30th November – we’ll post the link you’ll need to donate here and share it on our social media channels too!

You could go the extra mile this year and support the campaign by hosting your own fundraiser, collecting the proceeds and then donating them during the campaign to make sure they are DOUBLED!

This year we’re doing a “Friends – I’ll be there for you” theme to show our supporters how we’ve been there for our visitors this year and also to say a big thank you to all of those who have been there for us too.

We have lots of great ideas for “Friends themed” fundraisers for you from asking your colleagues to skip their coffee and donating the cost to doing a run dressed as a chick or a duck. You could have a friends themed dinner party serving Grandma’s Chicken Salad or PIVOT ’til your hearts content in a dance challenge… could we BE any more creative?! Check out all of our fundraising ideas here.

Don’t forget to get in touch with Martha & Sarah to let them know How You Doin’ and tell them all about your fundraiser so that we can give you a shout out during the challenge week.

Want to know more about how The Big Give Christmas Challenge work? Watch this short video

Thank You For Being There For Us…

We’d like to say a HUGE thank you to all of our amazing pledgers and our Big Give Charity Champion – The Monday Charitable Trust for their incredible support. Together they have contributed the £15,000 match funding pot which will be used to double your donations!