The Fenby Brothers: Making A Difference

Brothers Rupert and Julian Fenby spent the summer volunteering in their local community, carrying on the example of Uppingham’s Making A Difference initiative during the school holidays.

Rupert (Lower Sixth) devoted time to serving meals in a street kitchen in York for homeless and vulnerable people. Julian (Lower Fifth) cooked the food that his mother, Lyn, and his brother served, with his chicken and mushroom pie and cottage pie with cheesy mash always disappearing in minutes! Julian has also been volunteering in a community-run cinema, The Ritz, in Thirsk.

It comes after the duo, along with their other two brothers (Oscar, who has just joined the Fourth Form, and youngest brother, Gus) completed a Summer of Sporting Challenges, as part of Making a Difference, during 2018 to raise money for The Candlelighters Trust which supports children with cancer and their families in Yorkshire. Over one month they completed five challenges, walking the UK 3 Peaks individually, including tackling Scafell Pike in appalling conditions. They competed in the Castle Howard triathlon and raced the York 10k (Rupert) and age-appropriate distances for the other three boys.

They raised £2,100 and went into BBC Radio York on several occasions to talk about their challenges and The Trust. This resulted in them being shortlisted for the Team Fundraising Effort of the Year in The Candlelighters Trust Awards 2019.

Assistant Head, Co-curricular, Sarah Delaney: “I’m so pleased that the Making a Difference programme has inspired the Fenby brothers to continue outside of Uppingham too. This is exactly what we had hoped many of our pupils would take forward to their future. They are a real inspiration.”

The efforts of the Fenbys is just one example of Uppinghamians Making A Difference. MAD initiatives are mainly undertaken on a Friday afternoon and replaced the old Community Service programme. The focus is on giving pupils a greater understanding of their place in the world and their social responsibility.