Alumnus wins Pride of Britain Award for disability charity work
The College is proud to announce that Alumnus John Willis has won a Pride of Britain Award. John, who is the founder of disability and inclusion charity Power2Inspire, was presented with his award, for fundraiser of the year for the West of Anglia region, on 15 September.
The Pride of Britain Awards are nominated by the public and the winners are from all walks of life, of all ages, and from all over the country. The Awards go to deserving exceptional people whose ‘achievements are awe-inspiring and a lesson to us all.’
John, who was born without fully-formed arms and legs, is a Cambridge university trained lawyer and an avid swimmer and sports enthusiast. He was inspired to set up the Power2Inspire charity, which hosts inclusive and adapted sports events across the country, after being excluded from sports and opportunities as a child.
The charity recently celebrated it’s 10th anniversary and is dedicated to showing that sport can be for everybody, no matter their gender, faith, age, ethnicity or disability – ensuring that no one gets “left on the bench”. View the ITV news report to find out more about John and the charity.
John has raised over £100,000 in total for Power2Inspire, using the money to host the charity’s own Powerhouse Games, sport festivals and to travel to schools across the country with inclusive sport days. In his most recent fundraising challenge he spent eight days this summer kayaking 108 miles down the River Thames – raising £10,000.
On winning the award, Mr Willis said: “I’m so honoured and so humbled, as long as we can inspire people to do sport that’s all I care about.”
Mr Willis will now go to the Pride of Britain awards ceremony, where he could win the national fundraiser of the year award.
Read more about the first of the two PowerHouseGames that have been hosted by the College.
