Since 1987, The October Club has been transforming good causes.  With your support, long may we continue…

2024 - Back Up

Back Up was founded in 1986 by James Bond stuntman, Mike Nemesvary, a world champion freestyle skier who broke his neck during a routine training session on a trampoline aged just 24. Mike wanted a world where people with a spinal cord injury can reach their full potential. 

Back Up supports adults and children affected by a spinal cord injury with a range of services from wheelchair skills to activity courses, mentoring and support in getting back to school or work. 

NHS figures show that in 2023, 4,400 people in the UK were injured or diagnosed with a spinal cord injury, equating to once every two hours. 

The Back Up / October Club partnership will enable the charity to expand its services significantly to reach more of those recently injured and their families. Following a successful pilot programme with the NHS, Back Up will roll out its bespoke support packages from 11 specialist NHS centres to all 33 of the UK's major trauma centres.  

"Back Up's partnership with The October Club comes at a critical time. We want to be there for everyone affected by a spinal cord injury, but almost 4 out of 5 people do not get to the specialist NHS centres. The funds raised by The October Club will enable us to scale our services to many more people that need our support." 

Abigail Lock, CEO of Back Up  

2023 - Schoolreaders

Schoolreaders was founded in 2013 to match volunteers with local primary schools in order to provide free, one-to-one reading support sessions. Its focus is on reaching the most disadvantaged children. 

With the funds raised by The October Club in 2023, Schoolreaders has begun its expansion into the North of England. It has recruited six new members of staff and now has 537 registered schools across the region.  2,140 children in the North are currently receiving one-to-one reading support from Schoolreaders volunteers each week. 

The need for Schoolreaders' services is underlined by the fact that, in 2023, 1 in 4 children left primary school unable to read to the required standard. The youngest and most disadvantaged children were particularly affected, with 32% of Key Stage 1 children (aged 6-7) finishing the school year unable to read at the expected standard – an increase of 7% compared to pre-pandemic results in 2019.

If a child leaves primary school unable to read properly their future life opportunities are compromised as they are unable to access their secondary schooling fully. In addition, poor literacy is linked to many longer-term issues in society such as poverty, homelessness, unemployment, mental and physical ill-health, and crime. 

“Thank you to The October Club for choosing Schoolreaders as your charity of the year for 2023. Your support has enabled our rapid scaling into the North of England. We are on target to reach our year 1 target of 3,200 by December 2024 and are excited for what we will achieve together improving life outcomes, families and communities in the future. ”

Jane Whitbread, Founder and CEO