INSIGHTS OF BRITISH FAMILY

CHARITY EVENTS
COMMANDO CHALLENGE

 Started in 1990, after Alan Hardy’s retirement from

the Royal Marines in 1989
 The idea came from their desire to help people in need
and it was meant to be a bit of fun, and at the same
time raise a few Pounds for charity
 Initially, they wanted to do it only once, namely in
1990, but 6 months later they received phone calls
from people that have done it requesting to repeat the
experience. The answer was “No”.
 But the requests kept on coming, so they decided to do
it again and then again and again for 20 years on a
row.
 Things went better and better and the event attracted
more and more people from all over the world, their
number increasing from 100 to 5,000.
 The event, which is actually a training course that the
Marines take themselves, takes place each year in
October on a private property, that is a piece of moor
land (more like Dartmoor), 9 miles away from Exeter.
 The organisers benefit from the help of 30 Marines
that provide the necessary support for the participants
that are ordinary people.
 The event consists of two parts, one that takes place
on Saturday that is meant to be just a bit fun and as
introduction to what is going to happen on Sunday, the
second and most important part of the event.
 On Sunday, all the participants engage themselves in a
prize-winning competition and they have the “chance”
to get all covered in mud and to meet the Marines.
They compete against each other in teams of 20-30
people and there can be up to 800 teams altogether.
 Over the years, the Hardies had supported a number of
different charity cases, but last year they decided to
give 80% of the money to the Air Ambulance in
Exeter and the rest to a Charity that looks after the
welfare of the military people.
 Though it seems as a childike game, it takes quite a lot
of time (15 months) to organise the event that only
lasts for 2 days per year.
 The task of the organisers does not stop after the
event: they send thank you letters/emails to the
participants, clean the equipment, plan the event for
the next year and take care of the financial matters.
 This is by far the biggest fund raiser event in the UK
as they manage to raise up to 300,000 Pounds, whilst
others only manage to reach the sum of 20-30,000
Pounds.
 There are, of course, other charity events, such as
abseiling, formal dinners, bike rides, auctions, etc.
 10,000 charity organisations in the UK: leukaemia,
cancer, blind or guide dogs for the blind, deaf, animals
(cats and dogs, or donkeys), disabled, head injuries.
 Commando Challenge is unique in the UK and that is
why it attracts more people than any other charity
events.