The Beacon Collaborative Barrie Wells: Give while you can to experience the joy that it brings
Barrie Wells is the founder of Box4Kids initiative, which enables children with life-limiting conditions to experience live sporting and entertainment events from the best seats in the house.
“Meeting needs”, “transforming lives”, “driving change”, the language we use to describe philanthropy is so often gritty and detached, which is why it is such a pleasure to meet a philanthropist like Lancaster-based Barrie Wells.
His passion and enthusiasm for his philanthropic work are infectious and his energy and drive are impressive. The secret of his philanthropic success? He just loves it.
Quick facts
The causes
- Sport
- Young people
- Ill and disabled children
The funding
The takeaways
- People want to help – whether they are at the grassroots, a wealthy donor or a corporation.
- Passion and enthusiasm are infectious.
- Relationships are essential.
- Philanthropy is a joy.
Barrie says: “If I could share one lesson with new philanthropists it would be this: the absolute joy they can get out of giving their money away in their lifetime. You actually get to see the difference it makes.”
At this point he leaps out of his chair and grabs a letter from a pile next to him.
“I received this today from a host at one of our events this weekend. ‘I just wanted to share with you the five most wonderful moments from the event at Manchester City this weekend’,“ the letter begins. “’The faces of the children which lit up when their heroes came onto the pitch; listening to their excited chatter through the match was the best commentary ever; seeing them open the choc-full goodie bags; the warm hospitality and the atmosphere in the box.’ And it goes on.”
What does Barrie do? Among other things, he is the founder of Barrie Wells Trust and its Box4Kids initiative, which enables children with life-limiting conditions to experience live sporting and entertainment events from the best seats in the house, an executive box. The venues almost always lay on special hospitality, often including the chance for the children to meet their sporting heroes or event superstars.
So far, Box4Kids has taken over 13,000 children and their families to elite events in the UK, sometimes in the last weeks of their lives, and every time it gives them and their families an extraordinary experience and an unforgettable moment.
This is the joy that Barrie wants other philanthropists to feel.
“I am having the best time of my life,” he says.
The start of the journey
Barrie’s philanthropic journey began as he left his solicitor’s office the day he sold his business. Allianz had just bought his second insurance company Premierline Direct.
When the money from the transaction transferred to his account, he realised things had changed completely for him and his family. In his own words, he had gone from being rich to being “too rich” and he realised, in that moment, he had to have a new plan for what to do next.
“I was driving back from London thinking: what on earth do I do next? Surely I have a responsibility for using this money well. Do I want to start another business? No, not really. Leaving it to the kids didn’t seem right either. And I realised that I wanted to do philanthropy.”
He was 66 years old. He had set up two successful businesses and he knew he didn’t just want to write cheques. He wanted to be involved. He wanted to understand what was going on and to see change happen.
That was the start of the Barrie Wells Trust.
The Barrie Wells Trust: a focus on sport
Barrie decided to focus on sport, a lifelong passion of his.
“My grandfather was a world pole vault champion and I have always had an interest in athletics.”
That was in 2008, four years before the Olympics was due to be held in London. Barrie decided to support the careers of young athletes on their road to sporting success.
His research was thorough, interviewing not only a long-list of young hopefuls, but also their families and their coaches trying to find those he most felt he could help. His final cohort included 20 rising stars, including Jessica Ennis-Hill, Katarina Johnson-Thomson and Beth Tweddle.
“Each one was different,” he says. Jessica had been injured and wanted Barrie to support her with her own physio, who could travel with her to different events. Barrie has supported Katarina from age 15, including driving lessons and her first car. As an added bonus he promised for her to meet her hero, Steven Gerrard, if she became the World Youth Heptathlon Champion. She did win gold and he did make the Steven Gerrard meeting happen.
Listening to Barrie you realise just how important these personal connections are in his approach to philanthropy. Each person is part of his team. He travelled with the young athletes. He watched them succeed and grow, finding out exactly what he could offer that would support their motivation and then making it happen.
“The best fun we had was when I asked Keely Hodgkinson what would help motivate her to win a medal in the 800 metres at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. She said a test drive in James Bond’s £3.2 million Aston Martin as used in Goldfinger. She won silver and I managed to arrange the car. I am not sure how we will top that, unless we borrow the Top Gun Maverick aeroplane.”
Those friendships persist and that first cohort of sporting stars continue to support Barrie’s philanthropic ventures today.
These relationships are the essential ingredient in his success. When asked what didn’t go so well, he describes the one time he shifted away from personal philanthropy using instead an online application process. Immediately, he felt he lost touch with the grassroots sports organisations he wanted to support. So, that experiment didn’t last long.
Box4Kids
Instead, Box4Kids emerged – as it happens – from a chance encounter with Kenny Dalglish. They met on a plane returning from the 2010 World Cup Final in Johannesburg, which gave Barrie the opportunity to take up a corporate box at Anfield. Barrie knew he could easily fill the box with friends and business associates, but instead decided to dedicate this very special opportunity every game solely to seriously ill and disabled children who are all Liverpool fans.
The success of Box4Kids at Anfield led Barrie to decide to take the scheme to the next level by asking organisations and individuals throughout the UK to donate an executive box for at least one event per season. Barrie began the process of contacting high-net-worth individuals and corporates to build up the number of executive boxes they could offer across the UK at multiple sporting and entertainment events.
“That became my driving force for a long time,” Barrie explains. “Making contact with the box holders is the hardest part.” Once he secures a meeting, however, very often the response is incredibly positive.
An incredible reaction was from the Jockey Club as we became their charity partner in 2016 and ever since. In 2022, they have donated 60 boxes across there 14 racecourses with the children often being able to select the best turned out horse, present prizes, wear jockey silks, meet jockeys and more. Truly VIP experiences.
To date Box4Kids has been donated 200 corporate and executive boxes by individuals and companies. Currently, the 4-strong events team runs 12 events each week at live events, football, horse racing and other sports supported by an army of volunteer hosts across the country. Added into this mix is the generosity of the venues, and the stars and teams, who also give their time to make the day extra special for the children.
Box4Kids is one of those examples of philanthropy that is so simple, and so powerful, that it galvanises action from global corporates to individual volunteers, from superstars on the sports field to doctors and nurses providing life-critical care.
“Our model connects money with the grassroots. Once you get the box donated, the rest is relatively easy. People at the grassroots want to make these special moments for the kids.”
And the hunt continues for new boxes and new venues, should anyone have an executive box to donate.
Box4Kids in numbers
- 200 corporate and executive boxes donated
- 13,000 children attended events
- 12 events happening each week
Philanthropic joy
Of course it isn’t that simple to run a national programme of events unless you have a serious business brain: the marketing, the logistics, the operations. Barrie is clearly highly-skilled at selecting team members who are equally dedicated to the work, but his real philanthropic superpower is the extraordinary passion that energises everyone involved.
His enthusiasm carries you along; yet this is gritty stuff. Behind each smiling child’s face is a family tragedy. Barrie has been invited to many funerals and visited many homes where the child is no longer there. Some have died within weeks of their Box4Kids experience.
“I did wonder if I would be able to cope with it emotionally. But then I saw them in the boxes. One day they were miserable in hospital and the next they were in the boxes smiling and having the best day of their lives. I loved it.”
When he talks about joy, it is the rewarding feeling that comes from giving the gift of a perfect moment and a priceless memory. His message: there is no other use of his money that would have given him that.
“If you have money, this is the best thing you can do with it. It is just such a joy. Why wait?”
Chairman’s Award
Barrie was awarded the Chairman’s Award at the British Sports Awards 2022. The awards are run by the Sports Journalists’ Association and the prestigious award recognises Barrie’s work as a philanthropist sponsoring some of the UK’s greatest athletes and the work of Box4Kids.
Philanthropists rarely undertake their work in order to gain public accolade, but awards like this shine a light on the contribution of philanthropy and philanthropists in our communities and national life. We hope this award might inspire others by showing what a difference an individual can make – and, as Barrie would say, having great fun in the process.