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‘Daredevil’ Mancs raise more than £25,000 for charity after walking on fire in city centre
Talk about stepping out of your comfort zone.
Emily Sergeant -
29th January 2024 
More than £25,000 has been raised for one of Manchester’s most iconic charities after a group of “brave soles” walked on fire.
We Love MCR Charity went on to make history back in 2021 with what was the first – and what it thought, at the time, was “probably the last” – firewalk in St Peter’s Square in the heart of Manchester city centre, which is why the organisation announced last September that it was bringing the “one-of-a-kind” event back for the second time.
After all, when more than £15,000 was raised for the charity‘s vital work supporting Manchester communities last time round, then why no go for round two?
The We Love MCR Sponsored Firewalk is part of the charity’s ongoing series of ‘mind-over-matter’ fundraising challenges.
And if having 50 fundraisers walk over 700-degree hot coals with dozens of spectators cheering them on wasn’t impressive enough the first time, this year, the event was even bigger and better than ever, because the charity upped the stakes by putting on not one, but two, lanes of fire for walkers to conquer.
After being rescheduled to Thursday 25 January from its original date last November, due to adverse weather conditions, this meant that the second Firewalk was We Love MCR Charity’s first fundraising event in 2024.
70 “daredevil” Mancs took on the challenge in St Ann’s Square this time around.
Firewalking expert, Cliff Mann from TIME4CHANGE, returned to Manchester to oversee the event and coach nervous participants once again.
International samba reggae band, Batala, were also there to add to the atmosphere, and made sure their ferocious drumming served as a dramatic soundtrack to the night’s events so the brave firewalkers had a beat to march to while they stepped out of their comfort zone.
Simon Wright, who is the new Head of We Love MCR Charity, was one of those who took to the coals as his first fundraising event for the charity.
“Since joining We Love MCR in September 2023, I’ve been looking forward to getting involved in some exciting fundraising events,” Simon said following the event.
“And I couldn’t have asked for a better first challenge than a trial by fire right in the heart of the city.
“We’d like to thank our brilliant participants for once again rising to the challenge and raising funds in aid of Manchester’s communities and young people, as we truly couldn’t do it without your support.”
More than £25,000 was raised from the event, and that figure is climbing by the day too.
All funds raised from the Firewalk will go towards We Love MCR’s life-changing support across the city with its two main grant-giving programmes – the ‘Rising Stars Fund’, and the ‘Stronger Communities Fund’.
Read more:
- ‘One-of-a-kind’ charity firewalk event to return to Manchester city centre
- Here’s what happened when 50 fundraisers walked on fire in St Peter’s Square
- There’s a massive Alan Partridge charity quiz night happening in Manchester this weekend
Find out more about the future events in WLMC’s ‘Challenge Event Series’ here.
Featured Image – Jake Lindley (via WLMC)
