In the early part of 2023, the Aurora Foxes in Minehead Somerset (a special SEND college and training hotel) heard that the film ‘An Irish Goodbye’ starring James Martin, a talented actor from Northern Ireland who has Down’s syndrome, was up for an Oscar so they decided to send James a good luck message.

The Aurora Foxes decided to send their message to James in a short video which features many of the students from the hotel, and after receiving it, James returned their message with a video of his own to say thank you. 

Happily, in the spring of 2023 the film won the Oscar for the best live action short film and Aurora Foxes were so inspired by James’s achievement, that they wanted to do something amazing themselves.

The whole team looked to Mencap to find further inspiration and decided to meet our 2023 Rock Your Socks fundraising challenge by walking a staggering 21-miles!

They set up a JustGiving page with an ambitious target of £2,100 which, through their sheer grit and determination, was quickly blown out of the water because to date, they have raised a whopping £8,500 which is absolutely mind blowing!

A huge and very heartfelt thank you to everyone at Aurora Foxes. Your support is so very much appreciated.