GOODGYM’S FOUNDER IVO GORMLEY AWARDED OBE IN THE KING’S BIRTHDAY HONOURS
Ivo Gormley, GoodGym’s founder and CEO, has been awarded an OBE in the King’s Birthday Honours list for services to Social Enterprise.
From a single run in 2007 to visit his older neighbour Terry, Ivo planted the seed that grew into GoodGym, a national movement combining exercise and volunteering across the UK.
Ivo has been our CEO since 2013 and has continued to lead from the front, both figuratively and literally, with 481 Good Deeds under his belt running to support community projects and older people. This award is a recognition not just of Ivo’s leadership, but of the entire GoodGym community: all 25,469 of us, working together to create change, with our 400,000th good deed just around the corner.
Ivo said:
“I am hugely grateful and proud to be part of the incredible community of people that make GoodGym what it is and who have taught me so much. It is a continued joy to be surrounded by people who are committed to getting out there and making positive change happen where they live, and to challenge the norms of what exercise can be, and who it is for.“
Jane Ashcroft, Chair of Trustees for GoodGym said
“Those of us who work with Ivo see his deep commitment to community, his creativity in turning the idea of GoodGym into a thriving national movement, and his constant drive to find new ways to grow its impact. It’s fantastic to see that dedication formally recognised with this honour.”
Today, GoodGym is active in 65 areas across England and Wales, building stronger, healthier, and more connected communities through purposeful exercise. We’re deeply thankful to all our partners and supporters, including The National Lottery Community Fund, Sport England, Garfield Weston Foundation, Peter Harrison Foundation, Mayor of London, The Dulverton Trust, London Marathon Foundation, The Rayne Foundation, Athletic Brewing Co., Nesta, Strava, Octopus Investments, Running Industry Alliance (RIA) & The Running Conference (TRC), parkrun and local authorities across the UK.
In challenging times for all of us in the charity sector this sort of recognition is welcome validation and encouragement for us to continue to grow our work.
But there’s more to be done. In his statement Ivo said “With growing screen time and polarisation, our work which is sometimes messy and difficult, is more important. Real connection and community are worth fighting for and this is encouragement for us to push forward and make more happen, to keep helping to realise ideas of what more sustainable and connected communities might be. “
GoodGym started when Ivo started running to deliver the newspaper to Terry Young, an older Hackney resident in 2007. Terry was housebound and didn’t see any friends on a regular basis. Ivo wasn’t exercising much and needed a reason to run. Over the course of a few years they became friends and Ivo learned to love running. He started getting other people to do the same thing; combining their run with helping an older neighbour.
In September 2009 GoodGym became a non profit company and in 2011 we started meeting up in groups to run to help community projects. People in Bristol and Liverpool picked up on the idea and started running sessions too and the work started to expand around the UK. In 2015 GoodGym became a registered charity and continues to coordinate people running, walking and cycling to help community projects and older people.
Check out the GoodGym RIA Member profile here .