William Wates Memorial Trust
Our Mission
The William Wates Memorial Trust helps the most disadvantaged young people keep away from a life of crime and violence and fulfil their potential.
This is achieved by giving grants to charities that engage young people through the mediums of sport, arts and education.
William Wates
Will died during his gap year in Central America as a result of street crime in 1996. As a family, we wanted to do something in his name to make a difference.
Le Loop is WWMT’s principal fundraiser.
Our goal is to raise over £400,000 each year.
The Trustees
We, the Trustees of the William Wates Memorial Trust are Will’s parents (Andrew and Sarah), his 4 brothers (Tim, Jonny, Rick and Monty) and one non-family Trustee (Sue).
We are incredibly proud that the next generation are getting involved in Le Loop, with Will’s nieces and nephews coming to cycle stages.
WWMT Annual Review
Want to learn more about what the Trust has achieved over the past year?
Read the latest WWMT Annual Report.
Why Le Loop?
We created the event in 2006 as a fundraiser (then called 'Tour de Force'), inviting friends and family to challenge themselves to ride stages of the Tour de France. Taking 4 years to recover (!), we did it all again in 2010 and realised that everyone should have the chance to ride the tour. We have run the ride every year since 2012 (with the exception of 2020/21 covid years). To date, the event has raised over £4.5 million for the charities we support.
The fact that I was able to raise much more than (my £1500 fundraising target) is a testament to the quite extraordinary reason that the WWMT exists: principally that, as a family, you chose such a way to remember Will and create a legacy that will far outlive the sad and wasteful circumstance of his passing. It was a privilege to be able to contribute towards furthering the goals of the WWMT
Le Loop celebrates Will’s life and continues his legacy by supporting young people who don’t have the advantages in life that many of us take for granted. Will was aware of his privileged background and was keen to help others – the aims of the Trust reflect where his interests would have been if he were alive today