Engaged couple from Plymouth turn COVID-cancelled wedding day into fundraising event for meningitis charity
Sophie and her fiancé Tom, from Plymouth, turned their wedding - cancelled due to Covid-19 - into an opportunity by hosting an online fundraising event instead. They raised £700 which will go towards a target of £1600 to help defeat meningitis. The remainder is being raised through trekking the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco this October.
They were due to get married June 27th at Wonwood Barton in Tavistock. On March 22nd as lockdown began, they made the heart-breaking decision to cancel. ‘We had family coming from Brazil, New Zealand,’ said Sophie. ‘It was a devastating decision but we didn’t have a choice.’
They were then planning to get married in a registry office, until weddings were restricted entirely under lockdown regulation.
Sophie, a trainee legal executive, decided to use her lockdown to fundraise for Meningitis Research Foundation (MRF) instead. She said: ‘When I signed up to trek the High Atlas Mountains for Meningitis Research Foundation in January, I had so many ideas for all kinds of fundraising – but then Covid happened and I went into meltdown! We’ve been doing lots of quizzes with friends and family during lockdown, so I thought we could do the same thing on our “wedding day” to raise funds.’
Sophie and Tom co-wrote an online “pub quiz” for their friends and family, who all got dressed up to take part using Zoom.
‘We asked for a donation of just £10 each’, said Sophie, ‘So when all these bigger donations started coming in, I just couldn’t believe it. I’m excited to be one step closer to this once in a lifetime opportunity to climb Mount Toubkal for Meningitis Research Foundation.’
Rob Dawson, Director of Support at MRF said: ‘Sophie and Tom have proved that it’s possible for something good to come out of a sad situation. We’re very grateful to have the support of them, their friends and their family as we work together for a world free from meningitis.’
Sophie and Tom have fortunately been able to reschedule their wedding for 8thMay 2021.
To make a donation visit: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/sophie-hewett1
