A major new charity partnership between WellChild and The Jockey Club will see the Cheltenham Gold Cup 2021 sponsored by the Cheltenham-headquartered charity which helps seriously ill children and their families.
With Cheltenham Festival taking place behind closed doors this year, the four-day event will be broadcast on ITV and through digital platforms to several million people in the UK, from Tuesday 16 and Friday 19 March 2021.
Reaching this huge audience, The Jockey Club, which is one of the UK’s leading sport businesses and runs Cheltenham Racecourse, hopes to build significant awareness and inspire donations for WellChild.
WellChild is the national charity for seriously ill children, with more than 100,000 children and young people living with serious illness or exceptional health needs across the UK.
When the COVID-19 crisis took hold, the charity lost 60 per cent of its projected income and had to quickly adapt its services to meet a sudden and urgent demand for help from families having to deliver round-the-clock care to their children alone.
The charity, for example, expanded its digital services and set up a crisis response service to distribute more than 289,000 items of PPE to vulnerable families, so that they can give allow carers back into their homes.
Colin Dyer, chief executive of WellChild, said: ‘This partnership will bring a much-needed boost to our organisation after a challenging period and will help to ensure that we are ready to respond again in 2021 and beyond.’
Ian Renton, who runs Cheltenham Racecourse as The Jockey Club’s regional managing director, said: ‘WellChild’s services have been needed more than ever during the pandemic and we are very proud indeed to help such an important charity amongst our communities, including in Cheltenham.’
The Jockey Club and WellChild plan to launch a series of activities in the build-up to The Festival.
For more information, see The Festival at Cheltenham Racecourse and visit thejockeyclub.co.uk/cheltenham.
By Michelle Fyrne
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