Our first Supporter taking part in The Big 40km has completed her challenge!

Iris Flitter took on the challenge in February and has now completed her distance with a variety of walks, Tai Chi, and even circuit training thrown in!

The challenge was put together by the team at TOG Mind to help celebrate 40 years of supporting the local community with their mental health and wellbeing.

We started out as a mental health and wellbeing organisation, Tameside and Glossop Association of Mind, on the 27th February 1978 and in 2008 we re-registered as Tameside, Oldham and Glossop Mind as we expanded our services to Oldham.

40km is just under 25 miles. That’s like 380 football pitches, or walking from Oldham through Ashton-under-lyne all the way to Glossop and back!

This is no easy task and we are so grateful to Iris for taking part and helping us to celebrate our birthday and for raising an incredible £210 to support the work of our dedicated staff and volunteers.

Iris said this about completing the challenge:

“I feel so good about myself after completing the 40K challenge. It is the first time in 78 years I have ever tried anything like that, it inspired me to get up and go out walking which is so beneficial for mind and body and I certainly will carry on walking in the future.

Every day seeing the Spring gradually appearing with the beautiful Snowdrops, Daffodils, and Crocus cheered me up so much and hearing all the birds singing was an added bonus and so good for my mental health.”

Every year, more people are facing problems with their mental health. Tameside, Oldham & Glossop Mind work to ensure that they can offer help to anyone that needs it. Engaging the community to take part in our challenges and activities is so important for us at TOG Mind to not only raise vital funds for our services but to help us share what we can offer and sign post those individuals and their friends and families to what help they can access.

Thank you to over 20 staff, volunteers and supporters currently taking part in the challenge! We can’t wait to see how everyone gets on! To keep up to date, make sure to visit our Big 40 website page where you can read more about all our fantastic supporters! 

Jenny Higson, CEO at TOG Mind had this to say:

“I’m always motivated by people who take on a challenge in aid of us. I find Iris particularly inspiring that at the age of 78, she’s taken on her first challenge and absolutely smashed it. I hope this encourages people to realise it is never too late and believe that they can take on something similar!”

If you’ve been inspired by this story and are interested in taking on a challenge for TOG Mind, or if you just want to donate, contact us at fundraising [at] togmind.org.

For more information about TOG Mind and the services we offer you can visit our website at www.togmind.org or you can call us on 0161 330 9223 where we're always happy to help!