Muriel’s Day

Our first Muriel’s Day in 2021 was set up in seven weeks and raised over £8,000 for her church St. Mary Magdalen in Oxford and several other charities. Now we are having another go in the hope that bigger will be even better with abseiling down the tower at Mary Mags on both Saturday and Sunday, September 10th and 11th – Open Doors weekend in Oxford. We organise everything. You can raise money for the charity of your choice and St Mary Mags plus the charities we support.

Muriel Hunt was a remarkable lady. A volunteer for an Oxfam shop and the League of Friends café in the West Wing of Oxford’s JR hospital for many years, she raised money for war-damaged Syrian children and other causes via bring-and-buy teas in her own home. She had learned signing and was active on behalf of the Oxford Diocesan Council for the Deaf. Around her Christmas table you would find anyone she knew that would otherwise be on their own. On Open Doors weekend in Oxford she would walk between at least ten churches raising funds for the Oxford Historic Churches Trust and her own St. Mary Magdalen’s, for whom she also made sandwiches for the homeless and did the ironing.

And all this when she was 95 – weighing little more than the iron.

She was then knocked over by her car, but within a few weeks of recovery she had picked up where she left off as though nothing had happened. No wonder she received the British Empire Medal as you can see. This completed an Honours hat-trick for her family, because her son Philip is Lord Hunt of King’s Heath and her granddaughter Philippa an OBE. You can find out more about this wonderful woman from her friends and family both here and here.

Muriel’s Day is about creating more Muriels. You can join in as an individual, or get together a team, while Charities can enter their own teams. Our partners InvestMyCommunity will give you all the help you need to make fundraising as much fun as doing the abseil itself.

Here’s the deal. Two thirds of your sponsorship goes straight to your charity a few weeks after the event. The remaining third covers the cost of administering it with any residue going to the charities St Mary Magdalen supports. By law, any Gift Aid has to head that way too. If you can claim it, it will cost you nothing but make the world of difference to Muriel’s church of St. Mary Magdalen by helping us to keep costs low and increase our own charitable donations.
Are you feeling competitive? Then join in our Leaderboards. There will be prizes (to be announced) both for the best solo individuals and for the best individuals within the best teams. To get started, click here.