An Incredible Team Achievement

Four swimmers, 12 hours and 2 minutes in the water, and over £14,000 raised so far to support young people’s mental health.

At 5.30am on Tuesday 6th October, our team set off on one of the toughest challenges they could take on: swimming across the English Channel to raise money for YMM.

Billy Cyl, Rachael Carpenter and Daisy-Mai Crossman had spent months training and preparing for the challenge. When Katie Halford became ill with glandular fever and was unable to swim safely, Claire from Ware Swimming Club stepped in at the last minute to join the team.

It was a huge challenge. The swimmers faced difficult conditions, spending hours in the water as they worked together towards the French coast. With their coach, Angus from Iconic Swims, and Stuart and the support crew from Sea Leopard Charter alongside them, they kept going until they reached their destination.

After 12 hours and 2 minutes, the team completed their English Channel crossing. Their achievement has raised over £14,000 so far, helping us continue providing free, one-to-one mentoring to young people who need someone to talk to.

The money raised will help YMM support young people across Warwickshire and Coventry who are experiencing difficulties with their mental health, confidence or wellbeing. Our mentors give them time with a trusted adult who will listen, help them work through what is troubling them and support them to find a way forward.

A huge thank you to Billy, Rachael and Daisy for their commitment and determination, to Katie for all her training and preparation before illness prevented her from taking part, and to Claire for stepping in at the last minute. We are also hugely grateful to their coach, the support crew and everyone who donated and cheered the team on.

This was an extraordinary team effort, and the money raised will help make a real difference to young people who need support.

Every young person deserves someone in their corner.

Find out more about YMM and our mentoring service.

https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/ymmchannelswim2026

We’ve got something new coming to YMM — our very own podcast!

We’re creating a series of conversations that will give you a chance to hear more about YMM, the people behind our work and, most importantly, the young people and communities we support.

Our first podcast features Eliza, who shares her own story and talks about her experience with YMM.

We’re really excited to share it with you and hope it will give you a different insight into the people, experiences and stories behind our work.

The first episode is coming soon… so watch this space! 

We’re so proud of our amazing founder, Sue, and her daughter, Ella, who along with a team from Procure4 (for whom we are their charity of the year), and Aston Martin Lagonda Ltd (who Sue works for), ran the Stratford upon Avon 10K and Half Marathon last week and raised a fabulous £1,842! This money will go towards our mentoring service which we offer to local schools free of charge.

Sue said ‘the weather was thankfully very much in our favour for the Stratford-upon-Avon 10k & Half Marathon on Sun 27th October, following the enforced cancellation, due to flooding, of the original run on 29th September.

Huge thanks to to those who joined both myself on the 10k and my eldest daughter Ella on the half marathon – three of my colleagues at Aston Martin, three of our lovely friends at Procure4 (we’re their 2024 Charity of the Year) and Rory, the father of one of our fantastic 2024 teenage channel swimmers. The atmosphere and support from the crowds was fantastic and we managed to raise almost £2,000.’

It’s wonderful to see local organisation and communities get involved with supporting and fundraising for us! If you’re interested on working with us or partnering for charity of the year, we’d love to hear from you!

Young Minds Matter (YMM) is delighted to announce the appointment of Nikki Rimmington as Chief Executive Officer.

YMM is a fast-growing, dynamic and forward-thinking charity that supports young people’s mental health by providing 1:1 mentors free-of-charge to schools and by creating young people’s initiatives to make mental health and well-being a positive feature of their educational and life experience.

Nikki has been working with YMM since January 2024 to develop the strategic direction and operational plan and brings extensive experience of strategy, planning, finance and operations gained through her 25-year career of working in industry and consultancy. As CEO, Nikki’s responsibilities will include strategic planning and leadership, oversight of the day-to-day operations and governance.