Alice Ruggles Trust - 24forALICE

This has been a very hard year for many people and also very a challenging time for charities. We launched the #24forAlice challenge in October 2020 to enable people to achieve a personal goal while also supporting our vital work.

THANK YOU!!! Your response has been incredible. Over £16,500 raised so far!

#24ForAlice runs until the end of September. Give yourself a challenge, and help us spread the message about stalking...

Your challenge can be anything as long as it involves the number 24. You could, for example, walk 2.4 miles every day for 24 days, or make and sell 24 cupcakes. Or how about running 24 km and getting 24 friends to run one of those kilometres with you? Almost anything goes!

First, think up what you'd like to do. Then set your own fundraising target! Then sign up using the button below (we're just asking for a modest registration fee — you guessed it, £24). Finally, let us know what you're doing, what your target is, and whether you'd like us to mention your challenge on the Trust website. Do consider setting up a fundraising page (for example on GoFundMe, JustGiving or GoldenGiving).

From there on in it's down to you!! Just let us know when you've completed your challenge, send us a picture or two, and we’ll send you one of our magnificent challenge medals.

The deadline is 30 Sep 2021, so there’s plenty of time to complete your challenge. On that evening we’ll hold an informal event on-line where people can come together and exchange stories. We’ll be giving awards for the most money raised, the most original idea, and maybe more...

Choose your own 24 challenge now and help us in our work to bring stalking to an end.

Ever since we launched our “24 for Alice” Challenge to raise funds for the Alice Ruggles Trust during lockdown, I've been mulling over what do for my own personal challenge. Others have come up with such wonderful ideas—running 24 km, swimming 1 km every day for 24 days, biking 24 miles a week for 24 weeks, losing 24 lbs, reading 24 books, uploading 24 tic-tocs... How could I match any of that? The idea suddenly came to me while I was out walking during lockdown -- a 24-hour walk!

In my day job I'm an archaeologist and I'm currently co-writing a book about Stonehenge for Historic England, so I decided the ideal place and time to do this (covid regulations permitting) would be around Stonehenge on June 20-21, taking in the summer solstice sunrise. My co-author and other friends and colleagues from Historic England and English Heritage, together with family and friends, have already promised to join me on some stretches to urge me along (and also, I hope, to keep me well supplied with small talk and refreshments!).

Alice was my wonderful younger daughter. She might have survived back in 2016 if she had known more about the dangers of coercive control and stalking and gone to the police sooner. Or if we, her family, had known more about stalking ourselves and encouraged her to seek help rather than just hoping her ex would sooner or later lose interest and move on. Or indeed if the police responders had known more about stalking and reacted in the right way when Alice did eventually reach out to them.

We don't want what happened to Alice to keep happening to others. That's why it's so important our Trust continues to spread its message as widely as possible, especially among young people, as well as among the police and other professionals. We're in this for the long haul, but we will bring stalking to an end.

Please consider setting up your own “24 for Alice” challenge. Or, of course, I’d be delighted if you wanted to sponsor me!

Thank you so much!

Clive

I didn’t personally know Alice but do work with a lot of people who did. She sounds like such a sweet and loving person who I would have loved to have the privilege to meet.

After hearing her story I was not only saddened but angry that the system let her down. For me education is the key to anything! If you understand what stalking looks like and how to spot the warning signs you can get help sooner. I felt I could play a part in reaching out to others to help not only educate but raise more awareness and hopefully a few pounds for the charity to continue their amazing work.

As we live in a world now where a lot of us put our lives on social media I felt this was a good platform to use. I love a TikTok so for my #24forAlice challenge I set out to do 24 TikToks over 24 days. Not only were these fun to create—when somebody shared one of my videos it reached even more people. I love to make people smile and be creative so this did not feel like a challenge.

If anybody is thinking of taking part I say find something you love and turn that into your #24forAlice.

Thank you

Amy Tennet

Stalking is a vile crime that affects 1 in 5 women and 1 in 10 men in their lifetime, causes untold fear and distress in its victims, and in the worst cases (such as Alice’s) can escalate to murder. Yet all too often stalking (and coercive control within relationships, which can often turn to stalking when the relationship ends) carries on unchecked for far too long before action is taken. We focus upon young people because we want to raise a generation who recognise the seriousness of coercive control and stalking, know where to seek help, and are empowered to do so at an early stage.

A key objective for us at the moment is to spread the message widely within schools as part of formal PSHE lessons. We have just updated and extended our Relationship Safety Resource, a set of quality-assured teaching materials and lesson plans aimed at 14- to 16-year-olds that we launched in March 2019. The first version has been used in several hundred schools around the country, including a systematic roll-out to state schools in County Durham thanks to the involvement of Durham Constabulary.

We have been, and will be, using the money raised to carry out a massive expansion to this programme.

As well as offering enhanced support and advice for those who are experiencing unhealthy relationships, the updated resource (guided by feedback from the Co. Durham schools) includes a new element focusing on those who may be engaging in stalking behaviours and the support they need in order to stop. We are also developing new lesson plans suitable for younger audiences (Key Stage 3, 11- to 14-year-olds). Thanks to an initiative by the National Police Chiefs' Council, the wider roll-out will have support from several police forces around the country, and will also benefit from the involvement of “SAfEE ambassadors” (professionals working with young people and university students training for such careers) under certification developed by St Mary’s University in Twickenham in collaboration with the Alice Ruggles Trust.

We plan to get the new resources used in thousands of schools around the country during the school year starting in September 2021. The funds we receive will ensure that this roll-out is as wide as possible.

Thank you once again for your incredible support.

And ... if you have been thinking about taking part, do please sign up here and get involved in our wonderful community of fundraisers.

Some of our fundraisers (and some ideas!)