Joe Linklater passed away on 13th March 2011 and continues to be sorely missed by his family and friends. 2021 will mark the 10th Memorial Anniversary of our loss and so we wanted to do something special to remember Joe and at the same time to help you, your friends and family make positive changes towards living a long and healthy life.

As we lost Joe to a heart attack at such a young age, it seems only appropriate that we help raise awareness of heart health and encourage people to look after their own.

Due to the continued restrictions, we are unfortunately very limited as to what we can do together. As we know, we are unable to meet up and socialise or to play the sports and compete in charity matches that Joe loved so much. So until we can do these things, we would like to invite you to join our March Challenge - In Memory of Joe. It’s all about challenging ourselves, our families, or both to change a habit that will make us all healthier.

We’ve tried to make the challenge fully inclusive so that no one will be left out and everyone can take part.

By doing this, we’ll be remembering Joe, raising awareness around how to lead a healthier life and encouraging one another to make healthier habits for life.  Even small changes in our lifestyles will improve our heart health and what can seem tiny alterations will soon add up to make a big impact! 

It could be something as simple as doing some extra steps each day, getting out for some fresh air and a gentle jog, or trying an online fitness class. Introducing some better foods into your diet, swapping the white rice and pasta for wholemeal and brown, or having fewer takeaways. Maybe you can cut back on your smoking or drink less alcohol or even try out some meditation or yoga. All of these ideas could help you to be fitter, more active, or relieve stress - which we know are all factors that contribute to keeping a healthy heart.

As it’s the 10th Memorial Anniversary, we thought it would be a nice idea to tie the number 10 into your challenge. Some ideas as to how you might do this are:

• Challenge yourself to do something new or healthy for 10 consecutive days 

• Do 10,000 steps each day

• 10 minutes of yoga a day

• 10 push-ups a day or 10 additional push-ups a day

• Try 10 new healthy meals/foods over the month

• Donate £10 to our charity cause

More than anything, we really want you to have some fun and just do what works for you. You may be able to think of ideas that are far more creative than what we’ve suggested, or you may feel like something we’ve said fits you perfectly. Make it a challenge and something that you can achieve within the current restrictions and let’s see how many new healthy habits we can form together in Joe’s memory.

We’ve set up a Facebook group to support you with sharing ideas, information and tips, as well as our fond memories of Joe.  Please join us if you can at www.facebook.com/groups/joeschallenge/

We’d love to raise some much-needed funds for the British Heart Foundation ‘In Memory of Joe’.  So if you would like to donate or collect any sponsorship to help encourage you to achieve your challenge, it would be great to donate here. 

So now it’s over to you to decide what you would like to do. If you can join the group on Facebook, you can let us know what your personal challenge is in the group, so we can all support each other in starting our journeys to having healthier hearts.  

Good luck and thanks in advance for any donation, taking part and helping to remember Joe!