The Arena 80 charity Vote

We’re donating £600 from the profits of the 2026 Hove Prom 10K to a charity selected by Arena members. Take a moment to review the shortlisted charities and cast your vote using the process outlined below.

Voting closes on the last day of February 2026 and the winning charity will be announced shortly afterwards.

Amaze Sussex

Amaze is a charity that gives information, advice and support to families with children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities in Brighton & Hove and East Sussex

https://amazesussex.org.uk

I’m (Sam Bennett) dad to a neurodiverse daughter with complex needs and severe anxiety, which has kept her out of school more than she’s been in over the last six years.

During this unbelievably stressful time, Amaze was really helpful in navigating the SEN law minefield – providing support and key information. They also helped with her DLA application – as well as her recent PIP application – ensuring it was as strong as possible and she’s able to get the benefits she’s entitled to. 

They assist parents – who are under immense stress – navigate the complex, confusing and overwhelming SEN and disability systems that they’re forced to negotiate.

TogetherCo

TogetherCo connect people, places and ideas to create a society that everyone can be part of. They think human connection is powerful. We help people make connections through our befriending, social prescribing and volunteering services in Brighton, Hove and beyond.

https://togetherco.org.uk/

I’d like to nominate Together Collective (known as Together Co) as the Arena charity this year. It’s a Brighton-based loneliness charity with a single focus – that in a city of almost 300,000 people, no-one should be lonely.

The core of their work is befriending, which simply involves volunteers being paired with scheme members either to meet up or speak on the phone, usually for an hour or so per week. The time commitment for volunteers is small, but the benefit to a scheme member who might have little contact with the outside world can be huge.

The charity is also active in social prescribing, which means putting scheme members in touch with organisations and resources to provide social, practical and emotional support.

The profile of the charity – small, local and firmly based in the community – feels like a perfect fit.

https://togetherco.org.uk/

Pedal People

Piloted cycle rides for local elders and people living with disability or health challenges.
Passengers travel 5-25Km around their city through green spaces and by the sea. Participants spirits visibly lift. For over 80% of participants it is their ONLY outdoor activity.
https://www.pedalpeople.org.uk/

Nomination 1

I would like to nominate the local charity, Pedal People, based at Black Rock, to be the
charity partner for Arena 80 for 2026. Pedal People is a small, but hugely important
charity for those living in Brighton and Hove that are otherwise unable to access our
wonderful seafront, due to disability, illness, or old age. Several Arena members are
(or have previously been) either volunteer pilots (cyclists) for its “Elder Care Ride
service” – where participants are collected from local care homes and taken for rides in brightly coloured trishaws, or users of the “All ages ride Service” – using a wide range of accessible bikes with family members who have a disability. As runners, we know that the power of movement outdoors expands worlds, improves health and
dramatically enhances quality-of-life. Pedal People provides the only accessible form
of outdoor activity for 82% of its participants1. It transforms their lives and enables
them to engage with the local community and experience the exhilaration of
Brighton’s amazing seafront. Pedal People is a very small charity (just 2 full-time
equivalent staff and 50 volunteers), yet it provides over 4000 rides a year on an
incredibly lean budget that relies entirely on donations and fundraising.

Sussex Cancer Fund

We work together with the NHS to help make life better for cancer patients in Sussex – providing equipment, facilities and services that make a tangible difference for patients who are often on a difficult and stressful journey.

We also selectively fund and enable Sussex based cancer research programs that contribute to the understanding of cancers and improved outcomes for patients. https://sussexcancerfund.co.uk/

I’d (Graham Shorter) like to nominate Sussex Cancer Fund for our charity donation this year. I have only recently become aware of the excellent work that they do and am  very impressed by them. I do like them as all work is in Sussex and they are sufficiently small that our donation would make a difference. 

Sussex Cancer Fund is a small, independent charity that supports people affected by cancer across the whole of Sussex. The charity funds practical, local support that makes a real difference to people’s day-to-day experience of cancer care.

All the money raised by Sussex Cancer Fund stays in Sussex. As a small charity with low overheads, a high proportion of funds raised goes directly into frontline support. This includes funding patient services such as complementary therapies, buying vital medical equipment for NHS cancer services, providing patient comfort items, supporting cancer research, and helping improve facilities and refurbishments in local hospitals and treatment centres.

By working closely with NHS teams and local partners, Sussex Cancer Fund ensures that donations have a direct and lasting impact on people in our community who are affected by cancer.

You can pick one, two, three or four charities. Please put them in order of preference, with your favourite charity first.

Only select a charity once (multiple selections for the same charity will be ignored). Four points are allocated to the first choice, three points to the second, two points to the third and one point to the fourth.

Please note – you do not have to vote for more than one charity. The charity donation will go to the charity that gets most points.