TSF Mid-Year Newsletter 2025
With the first half of the year having flown by, we thought it would be a good time to take a moment to look back at what’s happened at TSF so far this year.
Firstly, we'd like to begin by thanking you, our supporters, for everything you do for us as a charity. We know that we wouldn’t have achieved any of what we have without not just your generosity, but also your continued support. We're enormously grateful and deeply appreciative of each and every one of you.
We of course also couldn’t do this without the amazing work of our trustees, and this year we would like to welcome James Mitchell. James came across the Foundation whilst studying Physiotherapy at Cardiff and has been a long time supporter and active fundraiser of TSF ever since, in his own words:
"The 2020 'Pint-2-Pint' cycle marked my introduction to the Ted Senior Foundation and was a trip from the northernmost pub to the southernmost in Wales; 380 kilometres and a lot of hills over 4 great days! We had 25 participants and raised £12,000, with cyclists from the event going on to complete Movembers, Marathons and Ironmans for TSF in the years since.
The fundraising has been great fun, but also provided an outlet for close friends to have important conversations supporting their mental health through some challenging moments. I'm incredibly grateful to the Seniors, trustees and the charity for everything they have done for us over the years and I'm looking forward to bringing the charity and their message to a new group this summer with our Meds Cycle Britain event!"
Grant Application
Looking forward, we want to ensure that all of your donations are having the biggest impact possible, reaching individuals and communities who need it most. We're therefore proud to announce that our Grant Programme is open and applications are welcomed.
The grant will be available to charities, foundations, and causes aligned with our objectives of improving mental wellbeing, raising awareness, and providing direct support to people affected by mental health issues.
By empowering smaller, community-driven organisations we hope to expand our reach to implement initiatives that create lasting change for people in need.
Our Fundraisers
Since we started we've raised an incredible £335,863.74 - including nearly £40,000 from fundraising and donations this year!
This is down to the incredible efforts of people taking on various physical and mental challenges, buying our TSF merchandise, and putting on fundraising events - we cannot thank our supporters enough!
March
Raising over £400, the annual TSF University of Bristol rugby match, organised by Charlie Gunter, brought together players from Will’s and Churchill halls.
April
Joe and Cat completed the Motatapu marathon in memory of Ted, on what would have been his 30th birthday. Tackling the mountainous terrain of the South of New Zealand, they climbed 1,050m and raised over £1,850. An incredible feat for their first marathon!
Back in London, Tom Walker completed the London marathon, raising £1,642 for TSF!
April also saw some of our strongest supporters team, led by Tom Burns, carry over 1,000kg to the summit of Pen Y Fan. The heavy hike symbolised the immense weight that many people carry in silence when struggling with their mental health, and raising an incredible £8,000!
May
May was full of running, with Ollie Vickers tackling the Jurassic Coast Ultra Challenge and raising £1,200 for TSF, and Billy Tew undertaking The Great Bristol Run. Thank you Ollie and Billy!
June
On 4th June, Team North and Team South set off on an extraordinary challenge - racing non-stop, day and night, for 3.5 days from Edinburgh to London, covering a staggering 950km in the North v South Race.
With over 200 runners taking part, the event raised a phenomenal amount for three charities, Maggie’s, Two Pints Deep and TSF, with over £16,000 raised for TSF. Day 3 of the event was dedicated to TSF and took runner’s through Monmouth - Ted’s hometown.
A special thank you to Jacco, Dan, Stef, Ed, Evan and Leo each running a half marathon! Thanks also goes to Matt Southworth for arranging such an incredible event!
For details on next year’s event click here.
June also saw our Mental Health Lead, Donna Boycott, take on the Tenby Long Course Weekend, completing a 1.2 mile sea swim, 70 mile bike ride and a half marathon - and raising over £900! Well done Donna!
Donations
Thank you to Kay Peacock for including TSF as a chosen charity for Usk, we are enormously grateful for the donation of £600.
A massive thank you also goes to Monmouth Comprehensive School for the donation of £1,186.00 from Monmouth's Got Talent, a breathtaking array of talent from the Comprehensive school and the Haberdashers’ Monmouth School, as well as other activities raising money at the school.
Further thanks also goes to Haberdashers’ for donating over £650 from Christmas jumper sales and other activities!
We're always incredibly grateful for your dedication and support, so if you feel inspired and want to help fundraise, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
TSF Rugby Match
This May, the TSF Charity Rugby Match was back. Monmouth Combination once again took on the TSF Barbarians, with the teams made up of Ted’s former teammates from school, club and university, as well as close friends of the Foundation.
The players delivered a brilliant display of rugby and it was the closest match yet, with the home team taking the win in the final quarter!
A huge thank you to the players, and all those who came out to support - a day of rugby, singing and dancing that perfectly captured the spirit of Ted.
Our Partnerships
James' Place
A charity offering free, life-saving treatment to suicidal men at their centres in Liverpool, London and Newcastle, with the aim of stopping men dying by suicide.
Since 2018, over 3,600 men have been treated at a James’ Place centre and we are proud to be partnered with the charity, funding a full time professional therapist at the London centre to carry out this life saving work.
James' Place makes the experience of finding help as easy as possible, offering men who are experiencing a suicidal crisis a brief, intensive, therapeutic intervention in a calm and welcoming environment. Their intervention treats the crisis and helps men to make sense of what is going on, how they have reached crisis point, what is keeping the crisis going, and what can they do to stop it, to move forward, and to find hope for the future.
In the first quarter of this year, James’ Place in London helped over 100 men, delivering nearly 600 one-to-one therapy sessions to men in crisis.
To learn more, visit their website here.
LooseHeadz
The LooseHeadz Foundation is rugby's leading mental health charity with a mission to put a mental health lead at every rugby club in the world, and provide them with a toolkit of free resources. As part of the toolkit, one of the key elements is mental health training.
This year TSF have committed £10,500 to develop a university-specific mental health training module tailored to the unique challenges faced by rugby-playing university students. This module will address relevant topics such as the dynamics of rugby banter, initiations, academic stress, and other daily pressures that affect this demographic, with the aim of reaching 130 rugby clubs with the TSF funded training module.
To learn more, visit their website here.
The Support After Suicide Partnership (SASP)
SASP is a UK wide network of over 100 members and supporters that brings together suicide bereavement organisations and people with lived experience, to achieve a vision that everyone bereaved or affected by suicide is offered timely and appropriate support.
We take pride in being a funding partner to SASP and will continue to support them by providing an annual donation of £5,000 in 2025 and 2026.
In the last year their focus has been to build their knowledge of how bereavement affects children and young people, people from racialised groups and communities and those affected by gambling.
To learn more, visit their website here.
Mind in Gwent
To further our impact into local communities, TSF have partnered with Mind in Gwent to fund suicide first aid training, with the aim of equipping this community with the skills needed to identify and intervene when someone is experiencing suicidal thoughts.
Facilitated by Mind, 620 people living and working in the Gwent area attended the course and received this training.
Ted's Friends
We're excited to have a new group of ‘Ted’s Friends’ from the University of Bristol medical school, based within various sports clubs across the university.
Our ‘Ted’s Friends’ embody our belief that the power of sport can be harnessed to improve mental wellbeing. Through forming a network of mental health first aid trained ambassadors, our ‘Ted’s Friends’ work together to improve the overall mental health of their respective sports clubs.
Our new Ted’s Friends will continue to support their peers, by acting as the go-to person for anyone in their sports club who is struggling with their mental health.
This initiative is particularly close to our hearts, as Ted was that friend to many - a special thanks goes to Mike Arminger who plays a pivotal role in the Ted’s Friends scheme, as well as to each and every one of our ‘Ted’s Friends’ for bringing this scheme to life.
Upcoming Events
Cycle Challenge 2025
Following the success of the first Medics cycle event in 2020, medical students from Cardiff and London will be taking part in ‘Meds Cycle Britain’ later this month, organised by one of our trustees, James Mitchell.
Over the course of a week, the cyclists will cover a total of 953km, tackling 9,048m of elevation, from with a select team of support crew, friends and family summiting Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon as part of the challenge.
Thank you for all the donations so far! Click below to make a donation or find out more.
Wales Coastal Path Run
Samuel Shilton will be running the entire Wales Coastal Path, aka Cymru 1400, starting on August 2nd. Sam will be raising money for Prostate Cymru and TSF.
The journey will be physically challenging and covers 1400km of trail, sand and road whilst climbing a combined elevation of 21,000m - good luck Sam!
If you're looking to get involved or would like more fundraising information, please reach out to Donna who is happy to help.
Thank you!
Everything we do at the Ted Senior Foundation is for Ted. Together with your help, we know we are making a difference.
Your support and dedication are instrumental in making the positive change we see possible. From all of us, thank you, and we wish you a happy and healthy rest of 2025.
Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose!