Barrie Wells Trust | Box4Kids Initiative
Old Boy Barrie Wells was a highly successful entrepreneur within the financial services sector before finding his true vocation as a philanthropist.
His first major charitable venture was in 2008 when he set out to nurture home-grown sporting talent whom he felt would achieve success at the 2012 Olympics through the creation of his own charitable trust – The Barrie Wells Foundation. Through this foundation Barrie was able to identify 18 individuals and to offer them the support they needed in order to fully realise their potential. His selection process was very successful as 11 of the 18 made the top 6 at the Olympics. This sporting talent included Jessica Ennis-Hill, Katarina Johnson-Thompson and Beth Tweddle, who then also became Ambassadors for the foundation, working with schools to encourage grassroots engagement in sport.
Barrie has always had a deep passion for many sports, not least of which is watching his beloved Liverpool FC and it was through this sporting link that he had the idea to buy a corporate box at Anfield that would be exclusively for the use of sick or terminally ill children.
“Box4Kids”, grew from that initial idea and provided Barrie with a new and worthwhile charitable challenge – to get access to as many corporate boxes in sporting and entertainment venues as possible, across the UK.
Barrie Wells (middle right), and Ian Rush (middle left), together with beneficiaries of the Box4Kids scheme, including a former Merchant Taylors’ Girls’ School pupil Eksha Gupta (next to Barrie), who is now an Ambassador for the charity.
Through Box4Kids seriously ill children are able to enjoy VIP access to sports matches, concerts, racing driving, and many other exciting experiences. Without this kind of access, i.e. where there is more room for wheelchairs, and where they are looked after the whole way through, these children would simply not be able to attend such an event.
Box4kids is growing in momentum, but Barrie still needs the support of anyone out there who has access to such corporate boxes in a variety of venues, and who are willing to let them be used in this way. Barrie, and his office team, work closely with a national network of children’s hospitals, so that the corporate boxes are used only for the children who need them the most. In his own words:
“We are so pleased with how Box4Kids has developed over the years, now giving VIP experiences to seriously ill children at a variety of events in 41 venues across the UK. My aim is to work with more companies, individuals and clubs to try to obtain many more executive boxes as unfortunately there are always more seriously ill children than there are boxes available.”
Barrie would be delighted with all offers of corporate boxes, but would really welcome any access to the Rugby Union sector, as this is lacking at present with the exception of Leicester Tigers, Saracens and the Millennium Stadium.
The important work of the charity has been summed up in a recent video, narrated by LFC striker Daniel Sturridge that depicts the vital impact of the Box4Kids scheme in operation at Liverpool Football Club.
If you can help Box4Kids with accessing more corporate boxes, please contact Barrie and his team via:
T: 01524 590 600
F: 01524 590 601
W: www.barriewellstrust.org
Follow us: @BWellsTrust | Twitter
Please also spread the word to anyone you know who might be able to help this life-enhancing initiative.
THANK YOU
Kind Regards
The Marketing & Development Team
Merchant Taylors’ Schools Crosby
