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Undercurrent Stories
Footsteps for the Future: How a 600-Mile Journey Sparked a Global Movement with David Fenton
What drives a marketing executive to walk 600 miles across England during a pandemic? For David Fenton, it began with gratitude for the hospital care his premature twins received 22 years earlier and transformed into something much bigger.
In this episode David recounts his remarkable journey that took him through picturesque landscapes and challenging terrains as he navigated the shifting COVID lockdowns. But what struck him most wasn't the physical challenge or stunning views – it was the extraordinary generosity he encountered along the way. From pub owners offering free accommodation when hospitality was struggling to waitresses donating their tips, these acts of kindness planted the seed for something transformative.
Inspired by this David set out to write about his walk in his latest book, 'Miles, Milestones and Memories' and this September,(2025), David's Challenge for Change invites people worldwide to walk, run, cycle or swim, collectively aiming to cover Earth's circumference (41,000km) while supporting children's charities. The statistics driving this mission are sobering: 333 million children living in extreme poverty globally, a child dying every 10 seconds from malnutrition, and millions without access to education or support for disabilities.
What makes this initiative unique is its inclusive approach combined with local impact. Anyone can participate – from octogenarians walking a mile to ultra-runners covering hundreds – and choose children's charities in their own communities. For businesses, it offers team-building opportunities while supporting communities where they operate. For individuals, it's a chance to improve health while making a meaningful difference.
David's story reminds us that significant change often begins with simply putting one foot in front of another. Whether you're a dedicated walker seeking purpose, a company looking for meaningful team engagement, or someone wanting to support children's causes, Challenge for Change offers a framework to turn physical activity into global impact.
Ready to be part of something bigger than yourself? Visit challengeforchange.org.uk to register for September's global journey and help children worldwide overcome barriers to education, healthcare, wellbeing, and safety.
David's book 'Miles, Milestones and Memories' is available now. https://www.waterstones.com/book/miles-milestones-and-memories/david-fenton/9781398471320
Question or comment? Send us a text message.
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hello, bob wells, here and welcome back to the undercurrent stories podcast, where we dive deep into the hidden depths of our world, one fascinating guest at a time. Today's guest is david fenton. David is a marketing director, walker, author of the book miles, milestones and memories, and heads the challenge for Change charity, which supports charities that help children overcome barriers to education, healthcare, wellbeing and safety. Hello and welcome to On the Current Stories, david. Thanks a lot.
Speaker 2:Bob, I'm delighted to be here and looking forward to a conversation with you. I haven't been described as fantastic for quite a long while, so I like that description at the start.
Speaker 1:It's great to have you on. Hey, one thing I did notice when I was doing the little bit of research for the show was that you actually held two Guinness records.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, bob, you might even be involved in one or two of them, actually, because they date back to our days together at Deucen and the two world records I mean not, it's not putting Linford Christie under any threat, or, um, usain Bolt the first one was having the largest number of people in a room wearing a Christmas jumper at the same time yes, so I think you were involved in that one yes, I was.
Speaker 2:And the second one was a year later, where we did the largest number of people wrapping presents for christmas, presents for for children. Yeah, and both, both of those were authenticated by having somebody from the guinness, uh, the guinness world records there to adjudicate and to count and make sure we we followed the rules. So, yeah, I, I kind of use that as a little line to open up a discussion, but then people get immediately disappointed when they find out what the two world records are for.
Speaker 1:Well, it's certainly an attention grabber, isn't it David? Before we talk about your passion for walking and exciting walking charity, please tell us a bit about your life growing up and how you eventually decided to become involved in a career in marketing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, good question, bob. So I guess I've always been very family orientated and part of a very close knit family. I've got two younger brothers and we get on really well and have done for well since we've been part of the family, I guess. And friends are also really important, so kind of having that circle of people that you get to know and that you trust and that you have fun with. So that's kind of been with me, you know, really since day one, and I guess you know I followed the route of school and university and I didn't really know what I wanted to do.
Speaker 2:Leaving university I actually went into the civil service for nine months as a management trainee because I enjoyed for those that are of a certain age, yes, minister, and yes, prime minister, and I fancied myself as a Humphrey Appleby. But yeah, the reality was not quite as much fun and I got a bit bored there. So I followed actually my father, probably because he was into sales and sales manager at ICI, so he was there for kind of one company throughout his whole working life and I followed him into sales and I joined Black Decker and I was there for 15 years and Black Decker was a fantastic experience because it enabled me to try different things and if you did well, you kind of moved on every 18 months to two years. So I moved from sales into marketing and I learned about product innovation, branding, product management, learned about product innovation, branding, product management. Trade marketing had a European responsibility. So you know, that kind of I guess got me into that path.
Speaker 1:You're now with the Marketing Centre. Could you tell us a little bit about the Marketing Centre, please, David, what it does?
Speaker 2:Yeah, sure.
Speaker 2:So the Marketing Centre is the largest fractional or part-time group of marketing directors stroke CMOs in the UK and basically it's made up of people who have led marketing functions and organizations at senior level so effectively.
Speaker 2:We've been a marketing director or a CMO for companies in the past and now we're bringing that knowledge and that experience to help smaller businesses who can't necessarily afford a full-time marketing director. We do that on a kind of part-time basis and we help businesses firstly to have a plan, a marketing plan that links with the business plan, and then we help them to execute that. So whether that's kind of coaching the internal team that they have or bringing in some expertise from outside, and our role as the marketing directors to make sure that we progress and that we deliver the results that help the business grow, and that's what I love, it's getting to know businesses, getting to know the leaders of those businesses and bringing value to them. That's the buzz that I get from it and I'm the regional director for Thames Valley, so I have a team of eight and kind of my role is to kind of support, I guess, the clients in Thames Valley with the right marketing expertise the right marketing expertise.
Speaker 1:Okay, so to summarize it, if I had a I don't know a company making jigsaws or something in Reading and we had a turnover of I don't know half a million or something, but we wanted to expand and we felt a bit weak on our marketing and our advertising, then we would call on somebody like yourself to help you through a period of sort of making that happen.
Speaker 2:You've got my number, bob. But yeah, absolutely, we're there to really help clients achieve that next level of growth. And what I find is a lot of clients have achieved great growth by launching a fantastic product or the team might be excellent on sales, but then to get to that next level of growth, then they need to kind of introduce some structure and process that they haven't had previously. And that's where we can kind of come in and bring our expertise and learn as well, because we'll often learn about the business or a particular market that we haven't kind of participated in before and ultimately we want to grow with them. If our clients are happy, we're happy and hopefully we kind of get other referrals on the back of that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I guess there must be a lot of transferable stuff in terms of the fact that you would go in there, you would help the company, you would come across various issues and problems and opportunities, sort them out and you can actually put that in the bank and take it to perhaps another company.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. I mean, I think kind of case studies and referrals are really important because it reflects the fact that you know you've done a good job and you've delivered value for them. And I think ensuring that marketing is measurable and that it links with the business goals is really important, and a lot of the businesses that I speak with are not sure how best to do that, how best to measure the effectiveness of marketing, and that's part of what we do is we put in dashboards that will be able to track the progress and ultimately deliver a return on investment, which is what we're all about.
Speaker 1:David, when we work together, if you'd said to me AI this would be seven or eight years ago I'd have probably said, yeah, hello, how, with your experience that you've had over the last 30 years in marketing and the increasing use now of AI, how important is it to the function of what's going on in marketing?
Speaker 2:I think it's increasingly important, Bob.
Speaker 2:I think it's a tool or a suite of tools that are part of the armory of a marketeer, and not just a marketeer, you know, and I think it applies across multiple functions in a business.
Speaker 2:And in fact, I was up this week at an event in Sheffield where we had over 100 clients attend the workshop to find out more about AI and how to use it and tips and techniques, etc. So I think you don't want to be, in my view at least, fully dependent on AI, because you need to be able to understand the context of AI and how best to use it. You need to have a plan in the first place so that you can identify where AI can kind of step in and help, and you need to be aware of some of the risks and challenges around AI as well as the opportunities. So a kind of balanced approach. And I guess if you look at marketing, it's a very broad church as to the definition of what is marketing, and AI absolutely has a role to play within the suite of tools and processes that you for any marketeer. So absolutely it's there as an asset and as a tool to be used, but in the right way and being clear up from what you're trying to achieve. I think.
Speaker 1:Have you thought of any specific ways in which AI can help?
Speaker 2:I think there are multiple, Bob. I mean, there are so many different tools out there. I think, ultimately, what I think businesses are trying to work through is have they got the basics in place, you know, have they got an AI policy, for example I mean that's the start point and educated some of the people in their organization on how to use it, or which tools to use for what impact? And then, thirdly, how do they get going? You know the businesses are asking those kind of questions around artificial intelligence and you know we've got a role to play in kind of facilitating that and helping within the marketing sphere. But AI is much broader than marketing in terms of the application of it and where you can use it. So often it's collaboration with other organizations as well. But ultimately, for me it comes back to being clear what you're trying to achieve and then the role that AI can facilitate within that process.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no doubt one of those things that you mull over when you're going on one of your walks.
Speaker 2:Among many, bob among many.
Speaker 1:Which is a convenient segue to the next part of our conversation. David, yeah, so obviously you love walking. I've seen the book. What date is the book coming out?
Speaker 2:It's March, the 21st Bob, so it's on Amazon and it's also on the publisher's website, austin McCauley. That's good.
Speaker 1:So by the time this episode is released, it'll be out. Tell us about your interest in walking. How it started, david.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I guess it probably goes back to my days at Juic again, bob, to be honest, because, um, we did a number of um fundraising events as a, as a team, and and I think you were probably part of that as well, and it wasn't just walking but we did cycling, uh as well, and, um, you know, we we managed to get people to get together and participate in a cycle ride from branch to branch. Or, in the case of walks, we'd have the kind of management team would go off and do a charity walk for a few days and raise funds for whoever the kind of provided charity was at that point. And I guess I got into it at that point and I enjoyed it for a number of reasons. A, you're active and you're outdoors and you get to see a perspective of the countryside and the environment that you're in that you do not see when you're driving around in a car and I think, doing it with other people, it's a fantastic opportunity to really get to know them in a different environment.
Speaker 2:So you know you'd find out all about what other people are up to, what they're doing in their lives and vice versa, and you come out at the end of that, I think with a stronger team and a stronger set of connections that ultimately team and a stronger set of connections, that ultimately, the more you can kind of trust the people that you're with and that you're working with, the more effective the discussions, the actions, the plans that you put in place. So there's a commercial benefit. I think that comes out of it, as well as the kind of good intent of raising funds for whichever charity you're working with. And I guess I've always enjoyed walking, I've always been an outdoors person, I've always been into sport, but that really kind of brought it home as to the fun aspect of it. For sure there are challenges, but yeah, I just kind of got the bug, I guess, from that.
Speaker 1:It's a great hobby, hobby, isn't it? I love walking, too david. It's free, which which is fantastic. Um, and I remember doing the doing that. You you meant I think it was 2012 we did the three peaks, which, yes, um, yeah, our mutual colleague, um, duncan barker, did with us. Um, and that was that was a. That was a tough one, wasn't? We had to do it in under 12 hours, which which I think we did.
Speaker 2:We did we did and it was again. It's another one of those memorable events that you never forget. And, um, you know there were. There was some pain involved. Bob wasn't there. I can remember some of the blisters on the, on the feet and, and some members of the team were struggled quite a bit, um, but I also remember, at the end of the day, we stayed overnight in a, in a bed and breakfast or a pub, and we had a few beers and we had a laugh at each other's expense, but with a really good, you know, camaraderie, and those are the things that you remember, as well as the, the pain and the fact that we did it. You know there's a sense of achievement that you know. We, we, we realized our ambition and we raised funds in a good cause. So you're making a difference, uh, and, and we had fun in the process. So I think that's another great analogy, bob, of of why do it?
Speaker 1:yeah, no, it was, it was great fun. Now, um, you did the walk. Tell us about the, um, the walk itself, I'm going to say the walk. Perhaps I, I, I need to sort of just mention that you, you walked, was it 600 miles during covid?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was over 600 miles actually in the end and I guess, yeah, I did it in COVID, as you say, and the driving force was really because my wife and I we've got twin boys who are now 27. But when they were born they were premature and they had some fantastic support in the local hospital in Reading in those early days and we always said, my wife and I, that we wanted to give something back, and so I was thinking, well, what could that be? And I thought about cycling, I thought about walking and it was my wife's idea actually to walk to places that meant something to me, around England. So I went back to where I grew up, where I went to university, where my grandmother kind of lived many years ago, where my parents lived, and then ended up back at the hospital at the end of the walk. So it was a kind of circuit around East Anglia, up to Durham, across to Salford, down to the Midlands and then back down to Reading, and you did this in one go, did you, david?
Speaker 2:Salford down to the Midlands and then back down to Reading. And you did this in one go, did you, david? I did it in one go, although I had a hiatus in the middle due to well, you have to read the book to find out why but I had some challenges with my feet which meant I had to take a brief pause in the middle of it. But, yeah, so did it. Um, not quite in the time scale that I wanted to because of that, but, but I did the over 600 miles and I did the circuit that I wanted to to to hit. And I mean I took so much from from that, from that walk, um or hike, whatever, whatever you call it, but because it was in covid time uh, it was.
Speaker 2:I was really impacted by the generosity of people that I came across on that walk.
Speaker 2:I stayed in pubs, bed and breakfasts, guest houses, and people would give me a meal or they'd put me up for a night free of charge, at a time when the hospitality industry was really struggling badly in that phase of COVID.
Speaker 2:And I was always trying to keep slightly ahead of the lockdowns, because each day, you know, the lockdown was right on my tail wherever I was. So I had to kind of juggle that without knowing what was coming next or what the next location would be to lock down. And the other impact I had was I'd stop for a coffee, you know, at regular intervals and waitresses would give me their tips in coins from, and I'd have preferred notes because it would have been lighter to carry in the rucksack. But but to that, that gesture of giving me their, their coins, and what it meant to them and therefore what it meant to me to receive that, it just impacted me on the generosity of people and that was a factor in terms of coming up with Challenge for Change that people want to make a difference and they appreciate people that are kind of making an effort, and that really hit me, I think.
Speaker 1:And you did this on your own, david, did you?
Speaker 2:I did it on my own, I had a couple of legs where people kind of joined me for a brief period. Had I done it outside of COVID I would have had a lot more support and I would have enjoyed that to be able to kind of talk to different groups and different people. But again, I was limited by COVID and in fact some of the people I'd arranged to meet I had to reschedule because they were in lockdown and I couldn't see them. So yeah, that was one of the challenges was trying to navigate who and where and how. But I had massive support from my wife and from family, sometimes lugging my kind of rucksack around so I didn't have it on my back all of the time. So uh, I had help from multiple people to to do it, um, but yeah, I did the majority of it on my on my own yeah, and what about accommodation?
Speaker 1:did you um pre-plan it or did you just do it ad hoc?
Speaker 2:yeah no, I planned it uh quite, quite well ahead and uh worked out the number of miles that I thought I could do and then I booked ahead so that you know the next week or 10 days were planned out. I obviously had a few challenges when I hit my foot problem and I had to kind of reschedule and rework everything and I didn't know how long I'd be out for either. So there was some big challenges around the way. But my preference was always kind of pubs or bed and breakfasts, and then where there weren't any, I'd go with a kind of chain of hotel, which was less fun, I'd say. But again, you meet such characters in the pubs and bed and breakfasts that you learn about their business, you learn about their lives, and I love that, just being able to kind of share stories and get to know people.
Speaker 1:And I guess, if you did it at the beginning of lockdown, we had that period of sort of three months with fantastic weather.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean it was September that I did it and September and October were great months, but it was interesting because the day that I completed it and September and October were great months, but it was interesting because the day that I completed the walk, the following day, we went into national lockdown. Everything was so. I made it by 24 hours, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to stay somewhere, you know, because everything was locked down.
Speaker 1:What sort of average mileage did you do every day?
Speaker 2:so in the early days I did around 20 to 25 miles a day, um, and that that kind of created an impact. So when I, when I took the pause and came back, I'd reduce that down to 15 between 15 and 20 um and and obviously some of its. Your elevations, like the Peak District, for example, is is challenging and you've got a or I had a massive rucksack on my back for a lot, a lot of that as well. So I think it was a combination of miles and and the weight and and the elevation, but the views that you get and the, you know, even when it was raining, it was just nice to be outdoors and the scenery that you could you could take in um, yeah, so I loved it hi, it's pop here.
Speaker 1:Just a quick interlude. Hope you're enjoying this episode and if you would like to hear more interesting interviews, we have over 120 episodes to date, with many fascinating guests talking about a wide variety of topics, which include music, history, philosophy, fitness, food and drink, adventure, contemporary culture and many, many more. I'm sure there's something that you'd really enjoy. So all you need to do is just visit undercurrentstoriescom or search Undercurrent Stories in any of the podcast platforms. And now back to the show. Was there always a plan to write a book? And now back to the show. Was there always a plan to write a book?
Speaker 2:It's always been one of my things on my wishlist to write a book, but I had three kind of concepts in mind and I didn't know which one. But leadership's always been an area that's kind of fascinated me. I've enjoyed reading about different leadership styles and Sir Alex Ferguson's always been a hero of mine as a Manchester United fan as well. So leadership was an option. I also like fiction and I'm into the kind of I guess the Lee Child kind of genre. But I'm not sure I've got the skill set to be able to kind of create that genre and replicate it. And then when I was on the walk, that felt like actually this is the right thing to do because it's an experience and I can kind of reflect and also share what I found on the journey and my thoughts as I went around on the journey. So that's what I ended up. But the ironic thing is it took me 54 days to do the hype around England and it took me nearly four years to get the book out. So you can tell which was slightly harder.
Speaker 1:Got some amusing stories or any stories that you'd like to share with our listeners?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean there are plenty in there. I can't share all the juicy ones, bob, because you have to get the book, but of course I guess actually the first, the first, the first day, um, I went, I started on the walk and I was walking around I think it was twyford, twyford area, um, in the south and I saw these two figures kind of walking towards me about a mile away. I was at the bottom of the hill. They were at the top of the hill and as they got closer, probably about halfway down the hill, I realized who, who they were and they were my sons, so that they the inspiration behind doing the walk in the first place, effectively. And they'd been staying overnight because it was at the start of the walk, so it was okay from a lockdown point of view. They'd been staying overnight at a friend's and I hadn't realized they were so close to where I was walking. But they tracked me via the phone and they came to meet me and we had a quick pub lunch. So that was a really nice kind of start to the journey.
Speaker 2:And another one I guess was up in the Yorkshire area, it was, and I went in for a coffee. Another one I guess was up in the Yorkshire area, it was and I went in for a coffee and a sausage roll or something, I think, just to input the calories. And, by the way, that's another benefit of doing something like this you can have as many calories as you want, so you can eat to your heart's content. But the owner of the shop gave me three different beers for me to have when I got to my destination at the end of the shop. Gave me three different beers for me to have when I got to my destination at the end of the day and my rucksack was splitting at the sides. In fact I had to change my rucksack at one point but I could hardly find space. But I made sure I wasn't going to leave three beers behind. I took out a couple of things. The beers are going in the pack and I had them later that night.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, that was another good story. I think, yeah. Do you have any darker moments while you're walking? Did you get to the point where you thought, oh, I've had enough of this, or?
Speaker 2:anything. Yeah, no, there were some, some tough moments. I I mean when I had my the problem with my feet. That was the toughest moment because, um, they were very, very sore and uh, I did a faceTime with my family and my mother kind of saw my feet and I could tell from her reaction that I had to do something here because I couldn't just keep going on. I'm quite driven and once I'm doing something I do not want to give up. So I didn't give up but I took a pause that I wasn't happy, but it was the right thing to do.
Speaker 2:And there were days when I think it was around the Manchester Ship Canal, the rain was teeming down and I lost my signal on the phone and I couldn't find the route that I needed to connect and that was depressing and you've just got to keep going. Those moments happen. You come out the other side, but for sure there are ups and downs on that walk. But I think the downs are normal, right, I think that's part of what you have in life. But it makes you appreciate the highs even more because you've had those downs and by far the highs outweigh the lows.
Speaker 1:But yeah, I would say that's my view on it. And were you, were you sufficiently uh, I was going to say awake, but were you sufficiently, sort of fit enough in the evenings to be able to sort of have a couple of pints in some of these pubs?
Speaker 2:oh yeah, I love the evenings. I love the evenings because, um, you know, the best ones, I think, were the pubs or the bed and breakfast, whether you've got an open fire, and you know you kind best ones I think were the pubs or the bed and breakfast, whether you got an open fire, and you know you kind of sit there, reflect. I'd feed back to my wife and what I'd done, because she was doing a lot of the social media posting on my behalf and I'd have a book with me or a couple of books and I'd read in the evening and then I'd eat a kind of nice meal as well. So it's almost like a reward at the end of the day and just actually something basic like having a shower at the end of the day was another one where, particularly if you're hot and wet or cold, the basics of a nice bed and a nice shower, you just really appreciate those six of a nice bed and a nice shower. You just really appreciate those, um, and you know it's just such a.
Speaker 2:I was so lucky to have that experience and just to see things that you you wouldn't otherwise see, and I took a lot of photographs as well which are in the book and you know some of the signs that you see with strange names or some jokes that people would put on signs. Or I came across one with a garden where you traditionally have your kennel for your pet dog. They had a kennel for their robotic lawnmower and they'd given it a name as well. So it's these kind of quintessential or quirky things that you come across and it all adds up to create a really rich experience, I think.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and as you said earlier on, it's not something that those sort of things, for example, would be things that you would never, ever see if you're driving through a couple of counties in two hours on a motorway.
Speaker 2:I think absolutely. And the kind of colours in the sky or the colours of the hedges as you're walking past. When you're in a car you're just focused on the road and you know you might glance out now and then, but seeing the sunset coming through the hedge, for example, or seeing the rich tapestry of colours as you're walking past, and you know, walking in the Peak District, walking in lovely cities like York and Durham, the Cotswolds, there's so much in our country that we probably don't appreciate as much as we could or should. But you know the opportunity of a walk or a cycle ride, you know it gives you that chance to enjoy it. And you know I think it is nice to do it with other people, because I've obviously done both and you can almost share it with others. I think there's definitely richness in that as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and in terms of the actual surfaces that you went on, did you use public footpaths, roads or a combination of both?
Speaker 2:All of the above, bob. I always preferred it when I was off road, if you know, on on kind of pathways or by the river. Um, it felt, you know, much more rural up in the peak district again. Uh, fantastic, because there was just sheep and me and muddy paths. That was lovely. The worst by far was the a1, where I was actually walking on the A1 for a while and probably shouldn't have done, but there was no other way to get to where I needed to get to and I had big lorries coming past yards from where I was, beeping their horns at me and that was just such a horrible experience on a busy road like the a1, but the majority were kind of smaller roads. I always tried to go the smaller roads and I'd use google maps sometimes just to kind of check her route, and you sometimes get lovely surprises.
Speaker 2:I was up in uh salford and I had three routes. I didn't know quite which one to take, so I just picked one and actually it took me past old trafford and I hadn't, I hadn't realized that and as a I'm a massive man united supporter I have been since I was born and I walked past, you know so, alex ferguson, way past the stadium. Uh, and that was, you know, it was a surprise and it was, you know, fantastic to to do that. So, yeah, I, I, I absolutely love the variety of the different routes that you can take and not knowing what you're going to see or where you're going to go. And you know, it was lucky that I picked that one of the three. I could easily have picked another route and found something else. It's that uncertainty as well as the fact that I knew where I was going to end up, but that path in the middle I didn't know until I did it. Fantastic.
Speaker 1:And the money that you raised went towards bibs, babies and buscot support.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it went to two actually. So, um, I split it between bibs, uh, babies in buscott support, because that was the story on my, uh, my or our children, um, and the other one was my, my brother, uh, had some challenges from a heart perspective, so I 50 went to the british heart foundation as well, and those were the two that I kind of supported.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay, so we're now sort of fast forward to today. Yeah, and you've now got the. You've started off Challenge for Change. Tell us about Challenge for Change and what inspired it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I guess what inspired it was the walk that I did previously and in the summer I kind of felt I'd like to go again. You know it's four years since I did it, but I wanted to go bigger, bolder and better and so I kind of thought around different options and ultimately I thought around the world appeals. It's 25,000 miles, 41,000 kilometers, but I haven't got 10 years to do that. Back to the discussion we've had about doing it as a team and bonding. I felt actually there's such an appetite for people generally to want to help or to make a difference, so why don't we open it up and make it global Challenge for Change? It took some kind of thinking and iterations, but fundamentally it's about enabling people around the world to sign up to either walk or run or cycle or swim and those kilometers aggregate up through the system that they would sign up on so that we can track during the month of September this year, from the 1st to the 30th, we can track our progress against the 41,000 kilometers and at the same time people who sign up will identify a local children's charity to raise funds for that charity. So the intention really is we've got a global movement or global opportunity for people to come together but that the impact that we have is at a local level and really to help that next generation. And I think that's important because every country in the world has issues in terms of children, poverty, education, health, and therefore this is something where we can kind of make a difference and hopefully help a few of those children to have the opportunity to realise who they can be. And that inspiration I guess comes from and I guess I'm biased, clearly, but seeing my children, but also their friends that they built up over many years. They get together every year to celebrate one of their group's birthday about 60 of them and we go along my wife and I and some friends go along to celebrate with them every year and just seeing how they are today and how kind of morally sensible they are, how they kind of got an approach to a work-life balance, how supportive they are of each other, it gives you hope for the future and give them a helping hand or a chance to realize who they can be. We can get more of them up into that kind of bracket of realizing who they want to be.
Speaker 2:And I don't want to bombard you with stats, bob, but just a few that kind of come to mind when we were looking into this is from a poverty point of view there's 333 million children globally that's one in six living in extreme poverty. Children are twice as likely to live in extreme poverty as adults. From a hunger point of view, a child dies every 10 seconds from malnutrition. So again, that's around the world. From an education point of view, there are 59 million children of elementary school who do not have an education, and within that, I think there are nearly 15 million girls, primary school girls who will never have the opportunity to learn to read and write. And then you've got children with disabilities. I think there's 240 million children that have disabilities around the world, and 90% of those with disabilities in developing countries will never get to school.
Speaker 2:So there's some really kind of damning statistics, and it applies to every country in the world, and so that's what this is about really is having a challenge that people can set themselves a mileage or a kilometre target that is right for them, but at the same time, we can make a difference and hopefully help a few of those children around the world to kind of be who they want to be and give them a helping hand, and I think the aspect that I've tried to bring into Challenge for Change is that people can do it individually if they want to.
Speaker 2:But I think more importantly is where they do it in teams or groups. I want to get schools involved, I want to get running clubs involved, swimming clubs involved. I want people, ideally in every country, to kind of participate in this and from what we can tell from the research we've done, I don't think anybody's done anything like this before. I think it's a first the fact that people can pick an activity that they want to do, the fact that we are helping then the local charities in those countries to give them profile and to give them funding, and the fact that we can have some fun in the process by doing it collectively. Then that's what it's all about really.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think it's a great model the way there's a marketing, almost a marketing operation for people's charities of choice to do with children globally.
Speaker 2:It's actually a framework. Bob, you're spot on. We are not actually. Challenge for Change is not a charity itself and we don't actually touch the money. So the idea is that we provide that framework, that local children's charities that exist get the profile and get the benefit from that. So you know, we're at the stage now where the website is launched as of last week, so it's called challengeforchangeorguk, and now between now and September it's about spreading the word and, you know, hopefully we get some interest on the back of this as well but really keen to kind of get people who want to participate, people who want to be ambassadors we've already got a few on the website already who are kind of spreading the word and telling their communities and their friends and then also companies who might want to kind of partner or sponsor in this process.
Speaker 2:Because, back to our experience again at Juicen, I think companies get a massive benefit here, a from a branding point of view, of being associated with something like this. Secondly, they're helping the community in which they exist like this. Secondly, they're helping the community in which they exist. And then, thirdly, you've got the opportunity to have a team aspect or a team competitive aspect where you can almost have in a company North versus South versus East versus West, and have a bit of a team kind of challenge, and then all of that aggregates up so that we're able to see the global picture and what we're doing at a macro level. So massive opportunities and it appeals, I think, to audiences of all types.
Speaker 2:My mother in her mid 80s will probably do a couple of miles and my niece in Australia is an ultra runner. She'll do hundreds of miles and everybody's welcome. We're targeting schools because I think getting kids to do a couple of laps around the field together collectively will involve them and give them an experience of being part of the team that goes around the world. So lots of opportunities to do some fun stuff. And and I should add, by the way, that whilst I'm talking about it, it's not all me um, I've got a massive support from 12 other people who are part of a steering group who are doing this pro bono as well, and without them we would be nowhere near launching this. And that's also fun, because you're kind of working as a team to bring something to life and we've obviously got a way to go until September. But yeah, we're proud of the website, we're proud of the branding and the assets that we've created, and now it's all about getting people on board.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so it sounds great, and I think that, um, the good thing about it is that you can be anywhere in the world. So if you're a runner, a cyclist, a jogger, a walker, what would?
Speaker 2:um, what's the best way to, uh, to get people to?
Speaker 2:What do they need to do to sign up? I think the best thing, bob, really is just to visit the website, because on the website is is the you click on a button and then you're into the system to to register and then, once you've registered, there's a link into, into just giving to, to kind of pick your charity and and if you, if you don't have a charity in mind, then there's someone on the website as a, as an, but I think if you go to challengeforchangeorguk, then just follow the steps and, yeah, we'd love to have you have everybody involved, and I think it's all about kind of creating a movement, a global movement, but creating an impact at a local level, and this is a massive opportunity to bring people together and tap into that generosity that a lot of people have in tough times. Right, I mean, we understand economies are challenging and life is challenging, but it doesn't need to cost a lot and I think every little helps and what we can do is be a channel to kind of help future generations really.
Speaker 1:David, we mentioned about listeners going to the website. If there's somebody who is listening to this episode and really feels that they'd actually like to do something altruistic, what would you say to?
Speaker 2:them I'd say you know, this is a fantastic opportunity for you. It's easy to get involved. It's easy to let your friends and your family and your colleagues know that this is taking place. It's easy to organize a team that you can be part of and that you can kind of get people involved that you want to get. And I think, ultimately, when I was talking with some of my colleagues, I guess in South Africa and Australia, about this, what they said to me was they really want to get involved because there's been no framework that has enabled them to do something like this before. And that is what this is it's a framework to support children's charities that exist today, and so my message to anybody is you can make a difference, a big difference here, and you can also have some fun in the process.
Speaker 1:Well, it's been great talking to you, David, and to catch up after all these years. I'm looking forward to reading your book and it's been very inspiring to hear how your interest in walking has led to the great work that you're now doing in helping children through Challenge for Change. And if we've got any listeners interested in taking part in events, or if they'd like to organise their own event this September 2025, you can find a link in the episode show notes. My guest today has been David Fenton. David is a marketing director, Walker, author of the book Miles, Milestones and Memories, and he's founder of the Challenge for Change project and, as mentioned, you can find links to the project and also David's book in the show notes. Thank you for coming on the show, David.
Speaker 2:Thanks a lot, Bob. I've enjoyed it and hopefully you're going to be signing up soon Definitely.
