2024/2025 Annual Charity Appeal
A look back at the first 6 months
Each year, Foresters Friendly Society elects a new President, traditionally known as a High Chief Ranger, who nominates a charity for the Society’s Annual Charity Appeal.
For 2024/2025, Jo Andrew was elected as President and wanted to share her story as she reflects on the first six months of her annual charity appeal, supporting The Rivers Trust.
Jo’s Story
Introduction
I was delighted when I was elected as President at our Annual General Meeting back in 2024. Firstly, because it’s such an honour to represent the Society that I have been a member of since birth, but also as it meant that I had the honour of nominating a charity for the Society’s 2024/2025 Annual Charity Appeal.
Our Charity Appeals go back many years, and they provide a national focus for the fundraising efforts of Foresters members, who are incredibly generous and enthusiastic when it comes to fundraising and giving back to the communities around us – it’s no surprise that we are called a Friendly Society.
I was incredibly proud to announce that I had selected The Rivers Trust for our 2024/2025 appeal, a charity leading the movement to protect and improve our rivers for us and for future generations.
My husband works for a local Rivers Trust nearby and seeing and hearing about the work that he does has helped me to understand the importance of our rivers, which inspired me to help save them. Sadly, the vast majority of our rivers in the UK and Ireland are far from healthy.
Key issues
Research from The Rivers Trust shows:
- No single stretch of river in England or Northern Ireland is in good overall health.
- Just 15% of English, 31% of Northern Irish and 50% of Irish river stretches reach good ecological health standards.
- Toxic chemicals that remain in ecosystems for decades pollute every stretch of English rivers.
Key issues like these are covered in the charity’s State of Our Rivers Report, including raw sewage in our rivers, chemical pollution, climate change, habitat loss, water scarcity and much more.
Not enough is being done to save our waterways and The Rivers Trust urgently need support and funding to help continue their important work to protect our rivers.
A look back at the first six months
I’ve had the privilege of being President for 6 months, and I can honestly say that it has been absolutely brilliant! I have been welcomed by Foresters branches up and down the country and have met lots of wonderful members in that time.
The first six months of our 2024/2025 Annual Charity Appeal have been a whirlwind – in a very good way! My daughter Brooklyn (a Foresters member since birth) decided to take on an extreme fundraising skydive challenge. Watching her jump from an aeroplane at 15,000 feet to raise money for The Rivers Trust was fantastic, but as her Mum, it was also a little scary. Brook raised over £6000 which was an incredible achievement!
I have been blown away by the generosity of Foresters members so far. One thing we excel at as a Society is our support for charities – both local and national. In the first 6 months of 2025, more Forester’s members will be completing Ultra Marathons, The Great North Swim, and Row-a-thons, all to raise money and awareness for The Rivers Trust.
I’d also like to say a huge thank you to everyone for their wonderful support for The Rivers Trust! I’m looking forward to seeing more Foresters members over the next 6 months and hearing about their amazing fundraising activities.
How You Can Get Involved
There’s lots of ways that Forester’s members take part in our Annual Charity Appeals, from bake sales to quiz nights and much more.
If you’d like to get involved, contact your local Foresters branch for more information on activities taking place in your area.