Get fit for FFK!

DEADLINE EXTENDED TO 24 MAY!

Keeping physically fit during the global lockdown is important, though a challenge. But, whether you are managing a daily walk, run, cycle, or even, like the wonderful Captain Tom Moore, a few laps of your garden or even balcony, why not put that effort to good use by supporting charities that have been hit especially hard as a result of the pandemic as their normal fundraising activities are put on hold and the economic climate means many large supporters have had to withdraw.
 
We at Futures For Kids have heard many appeals from the charities we support that while their fundraising opportunities are drying up, much of their work is becoming even more invaluable than ever during the Covid-19 pandemic. They are in desperate need of funds in order to continue providing their services and even in some cases to survive.
 
As the industry’s charity foundation, FFK has had to postpone or cancel our regular fundraising events. But, we have been exploring ways to continue raising money for our core charities, while recognising the limitations created by communities in lockdown.
 
We also recognise that this is an industry with a strong spirit of community and network and we are all struggling to keep that sense of togetherness alive in this time of isolation.
 
We are therefore pleased to announce FFK’s Virtual Fun Run!

This will replace the now annual FFK Fun Run that had been due to be held in June. And we hope that by making this a virtual event, and broadening the number of activities included, we will be able to attract more participants from across the futures industry globally to raise much needed funds and also provide the industry with that sense of togetherness.
 
In simple terms, we are asking participants to make a donation to FFK and then undertake a 5k or 10k run or walk, or a cycle ride (even on a stationary exercise bike) of 15k between the dates of 24th April and 10th May. This will allow participants to undertake their own individual challenges at a time and date that suits them, while adhering to social distancing guidelines in their respective countries.
 
Participants who want to be entered into the virtual ‘race’ can then submit their times, using data from whichever fitness app they prefer. We will announce the winners of the men’s and women’s 5k and 10k runs, walks and bike rides shortly after the 10th May and it will be posted on the FFK website.
 
And for a bit more fun, you can post photos of your fitness outfit of choice (as jolly and uplifting as your fancy) to social media tagging @FuturesForKids and using the hashtag #ffkvirtualrun2020
 
We hope you will be able to join this worthy and fun initiative and encourage as many in your network to do so.
Thank you to all our sponsors

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To find out more about how to sponsor, please contact FFK.equiries@gmail.com





FFK appeal April 2020

Dear FFK Supporter,

In common with countless other organisations, Futures For Kids has had to put a number of activities on hold for the foreseeable future. This means that our regular fundraising events for this time of year will not be taking place – this includes the annual FFK Quiz Night; the Golf Day; and, of course, the Gala Dinner hosted by FIA to coincide with IDX.

We are desperately sad not to be able to raise funds for the amazing charities we support, particularly at a time when their other sources of funds are all but drying up. We are hearing heart-breaking stories of our core charities not able to support the children and young adults they care for in a climate when that support is even more critical than it is at the best of times.

FFK hopes to be able to reschedule a number of fundraising events later in the year, including the Gala Dinner, and may even come up with creative ways of holding events as an alternative to the in-person kind. This could include a ‘virtual race’ should we not be able to move forward with our annual Fun Run in late June.

In the meantime, we encourage you, if you are able, to make donations directly to your favourite charities, or to one of FFK’s core charities where your contribution will provide invaluable support. Below are some messages from these charities and links to their donation pages.

Thank you for your past support of Futures For Kids. We hope to be able to come back to you with better news and opportunities for fundraising later in the summer.

Stay safe and healthy.

Emma

Emma Davey, Chair of the Board of Trustees

EducAid

Based in Sierra Leone, EducAid knows all too well the harsh realities that lie ahead having lived through the Ebola crisis. The country, like many others, has now suspended all schools for an indefinite period. EducAid now needs extra support to keep its students with nowhere else to go safe and learning at the schools they call home. It is also working hard to make sure that learning continues across Sierra Leone in innovative ways that reach as many communities and children as possible. Like other charities, EducAid knows it will be facing a dramatic drop in income in the months ahead. Much of that income comes from events that will now not take place, from schools that will now be shut throughout the next term or more, from funders and trusts who are also experiencing challenges. Without help, all EducAid has built over the last 25 years is in jeopardy.
 
https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/charity-web/charity/displayCharityCampaignPage.action?charityCampaignUrl=EducAidCovidAppeal&mc_cid=1b453cac8b&mc_eid=0718b2d270

Kids In Kathmandu Nepal (KIKN)

The news from Kathmandu is similar. All the schools and colleges are closed till further notice. The seven breakfast clubs KIKN supports in seven schools have ceased as part of the closure. Over 800 children are being affected. More than half the population of Kathmandu has left to return to their ancestral homes where they are attempting to live off the land. But one meal a day is a reasonable outcome for most families living on the breadline.

https://kidsinkathmandu.com/support-us/

Leadership Through Sport and Business

Prior to the UK government's announcement about the creation of a new COVID-19 job retention scheme, employers of three of LTSB’s top performing young people had already reacted by making their posts redundant. LTSB hopes the government's intervention will stop the escalation of redundancies however this may not help the 66 young people in the process of being placed at this time. LTSB’s support for young people is more important than ever as they manage home-working for the first time, often caring for elderly relatives and younger siblings at the same time. This includes young people from LTSB’s 2018 and 2019 Intakes as well alumni. LTSB is also supporting employers and ensuring apprentices are effective, productive, and valued. Mentoring and supporting young people and their families is even more important at this time. A significant number of young people who have completed LTSB’s 4-month preparation for work bootcamp are now unlikely to be placed in roles for many months to come, through no fault of their own. Many of these young people have lost the part-time jobs they had during the bootcamp and are now unlikely to be placed in full time career roles. Their financial contribution to their families is often a necessary lifeline.

https://www.paypal.com/fundraiser/charity/127684

WeSeeHope

WeSeeHope has always been about hope. COVID-19 risks destroying that hope, unless the charity and its partners can be where they have been for the last 20 years – alongside the most vulnerable in the poor and isolated communities in which we work. The COVID-19 crisis is devastating for WeSeeHope as it poses a genuine existential threat to the charity’s future. In the last three weeks the charity has lost 80% of the funding it was expecting to receive for the remainder of its financial year (ending June 2020) and 50% of funding for the following year. A number of its campaigns have been cancelled and £1.4m of its expected future income has been lost or affected. WeSeeHope needs to raise £320,000 by June and another additional £150,000 by September. The closer it can get to this target, the more it can reduce the impact of the proposed cuts on our work in the coming months.

https://www.weseehope.org.uk/urgent-appeal/

2019 FFK Golf Day results

The winning team, Trading Technologies

The winning team, Trading Technologies

The 4th July 2019 saw the return of the annual FFK Golf Day with teams competing for the coveted Bob Ray Memorial Trophy.

Generously supported by our sponsors ION Group, Barclays, CME Group, InterTrader, KRM22 and Cult Wines, the event attracted teams from banks, brokers, exchanges and vendors vying for the lead in a competition over 18 holes at the iconic Royal Blackheath Golf Club in South East London.

The weather was kind to us as around 50 golfers set off for a shotgun start at 8.30am. In addition to the Team and Individual Competitions, players were challenged to ‘Beat the Pro’ on the 8th hole (our grateful thanks to RBGC Club Pro Matt Johns for putting his reputation on the line once again), achieve the Longest Drive on the 6th and ‘Nearest the Pin’ on the 12th and 16th holes.

Prize-giving followed a delicious barbecue lunch with Trading Technologies triumphing in the Team Competition to claim the Bob Ray Memorial Trophy. KRM22 and InterTrader came second and third respectively.

Tom Gearing, from sponsoring firm Cult Wines, won the Individual Competition.

The prize for the Best Lady Player of the day was awarded to Eva Haupt from Eurex. A bottle of champagne was presented in commiseration to the last placed individual of the day, but we’ll spare his blushes and not name him!

See below for a list of all the day’s results.

Thanks to the generosity of our sponsors, and all those who took part, the event raised much-needed funds for FFK’s charities, and a good day was had by all.

We look forward to seeing you next year!

Photos from the day can be found here.

The 2019 Results

 Winner of the Team Competition, sponsored by ION Group,
and presented with The Bob Ray Memorial Trophy
Trading Technologies

 Runner up in the Team Competition
KRM22

3rd place in the Team Competition

InterTrader

Winner of the Individual Competition, sponsored by ION Group

Tom Gearing, Cult Wines

Beat the Pro, sponsored by CME Group
Jamie Massett, RBC

 Longest drive, sponsored by Intertrader
Tom Turner, Cult Wines

 Nearest the Pin (12th hole), sponsored by KRM22
Adam Clark, ION Group

 Nearest the pin (16th hole), sponsored by Barclays
Marcus Allen, Cult Wines

 Best Lady Player
Eva Haupt, Eurex

FFK Fun Run Raises £60k

On 13 June some 160 runners came together at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford, London for the 2019 FFK Fun Run. After a somewhat wet and windy day, the runners set off for a 5k or 10k race organised by Innovation Sports, in memory of Bernie Connolly, a trustee of FFK, colleague to many at FIA.

We were very fortunate to have the multi Olympic, World, European and Commonwealth Games gold medallist, Christine Ohuruogu in attendance to present the trophies and also preside over the mass warm up. The winners of the two races were:

Women’s 10k: Hana Evans from FIS

Men’s 10k: Ian Firla, from OSTC

Women’s 5k: Emma Hatto, Bowers Talent

Men’s 5k: Guillaume Battini, Euronext

Full results are available here:

10k results

5k results

The special prize for best fancy dress went to the team from insurance broker Ardonagh Speciality.

An additional ‘novelty’ entertainment to this year’s run were former trustee Dave Setters and current trustee, Patrick Thornton-Smith, joining ‘as one’ with Patrick pushing Dave around the 5k course in his wheelchair. With a combined weight of over 220 kilos and collective age of 120, the two of them crossed the line in 43 minutes with both complaining of a wobbly wheel.


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Photos from the day can be found here

FFK would like to thank all runners, supporters, marshals and sponsors:

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NEX wins FFK five-a-side football tournament

NEX beat an ION team 4-3 in the final to lift the winner’s trophy in the annual FFK five-a-side football tournament on 1st November. ION, who sponsored the event, also had a team in the third-place playoffs, losing 2-4 against RJ O’Brien.

Thirteen teams joined in the fun on the cold winter’s evening at the Power League pitches in Shoreditch. They included a team representing some of the young people supported by one of Futures for Kids’ charities, Leadership Through Sport and Business. The work of the charity was brilliantly illustrated by the thank you words provided by one LTSB alumnus, Nabhan, who is now an apprentice at Cult Wines, another of the teams participating on the night.

The full list of firms field one or two teams was:

Cult Wines, FOW, GH Financials, INTL FC Stone, ION, KRM22, Leadership Through Sport and Business, LME Clear, NEX, Orbis Consulting, RJ O’Brien.

Thank you to all the teams and players and particularly to ION for the generous sponsorship that made the event possible.

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FFK ANNUAL 4TH JULY GOLF DAY

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The sun shone brightly as more than 60 golfers gathered to compete for the much-coveted Bob Ray Memorial Trophy at the picturesque Royal Blackheath Golf Club.

Long before the US awoke to its Independence Day celebrations, our enthusiastic golfers met for breakfast before a shotgun start at 8.30am. With the weather proving especially kind, the drinks cart was as popular as ever as teams from Argon, BAML, Barclays, CME, Cult Wines, CurveGlobal, Fidessa, FFK, ICE, INTL FC Stone, ION Group, JP Morgan, KRM22, Sheffield Haworth and Societe Generale took on the testing course.

Notwithstanding the bonhomie on display throughout the day, the competitive spirit was alive and well. Mulligans and 'Beat the Pro' tickets were in high demand and individuals and teams vied for prizes in one of the many challenges. 

Congratulations to the winners in the individual contests:

Longest Drive – Nick Forgan
Nearest the Pin (12th hole) – Jon Garner
Nearest the Pin (16th hole) – Jon Regan
Best individual player – Jon Regan with 42 points (closely followed by Stephen O'Connor with 41 points and Garry Jones with 40)

A number of players managed to beat the unquestionably talented RBGC pro, Matt Johns, in the 8th hole challenge. Drawing those names from a hat, Mike Wilkins walked away with this year’s ‘Beat the Pro’ prize.

Competition was fierce for the Fastest Hole contest with CurveGlobal coming out on top with a time of 50.77 seconds. Second place went to the BAML team (51.4) and third place to ION (62.10).

Rounding off the prize-giving the Bob Ray Memorial Trophy was presented to CurveGlobal, winning with a team score of 95 points, ahead of joint runners-up JP Morgan and Sheffield Haworth with 93 points apiece.

Thanks to the generosity of our sponsors, and all those who took part, the event raised more than £22,000 which will make a real difference to the many projects that FFK supports.

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FFK and FIA pay tribute to Bernadette Connolly

With great sadness, FIA and FFK today announced the passing of Bernadette “Bernie” Connolly, a longtime and highly respected staff member in FIA’s London office.  Although living with a terminal illness for a number of years, Bernie continued to be the steady cornerstone of FIA’s events in Europe as well as a trustee of Futures for Kids..

FFK announces results of inaugural 10k run

The runners are all set....

The runners are all set....

 

Over 150 runners gathered at the iconic Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London on 23 May to complete the inaugural FFK 10k run, with 101 running the two-laps of the course for the full 10k, and a further 56 running once round for 5k.

Teams and individuals representing all sections of the futures industry, including exchanges, brokers, vendors, trading firms and trade associations, participated in the friendly, and in some cases competitive, event.

The winner of the men's 10k race, and overall winner, was Ian Firla from OSTC, who completed the race in an impressive 37:12 minutes. Leading the pack for the women was Ellie Moffatt, from Mazars and Leadership Through Sport and Business, who finished in an equally impressive 40:16.

The 5k race was won by Sam Harry, from JDX, with a time of 20:16, while his JDX team mate Alexa Carter won the women's race in 22.12 minutes.

A great time was had by all and FFK trustees, a number of whom also completed the run, would like to thank all the sponsors who made this event possible: Gold sponsors - Calyposo and ION; Silver sponsors - Cinnober, Fidessa, GH Financials, OSTC and RJ O'Brien; Bronze sponsors - FOW, Illuminate, Kite and KRM22; and Supporters - Cult Wines, FIA and John Lothian News.

This is set to be an annual event and we look forward to seeing all the runners, and more, again next year!

The full set of results can be found here

2018 Quiz Night: And the winner is...

The annual FFK quiz night, which took place on 18 April, once again proved a great success and lots of fun, with INTL FCStone narrowly beating Jo's Joes (a team made up for former Liffe staff brought together by Jo Shannon and Jonathan Seymour) following a final, tiebreaker question. In joint third place were FIA's team, the Fiascos, the Smartinis, representing ACI UK, and WILD (Women in Listed Derivatives).

Thanks to our silver sponsors:

Thanks also to the table sponsors: FIA, FOW, ION, INTL FCStone, Jo's Joes, Kite, London Metal Exchange and WILD.