Why Solidarity, Diversity and Inclusion matters more than ever

The objective of the Manx Solidarity Fund is to “bring the community together to support residents and local organisations facing difficulties due to Covid 19” and they have made great progress raising funds thanks to the generosity of the Manx community, here and overseas.

Whilst the Isle of Man have been fortunate to come out of the other side quicker than many, having been COVID-free for 43 days and with social distancing measures now lifted completely - the hard work starts here and the Manx Solidarity Fund have a key role to play in helping the ‘recovery curve’ to be closer to a V than a U for everyone on the Isle of Man. They have a great team working on applications from local people, charities and businesses who could do with a helping hand to emerge from lockdown in good financial health.

But the wider impacts and lessons from the pandemic are only just starting to emerge and there are some key themes regarding diversity & inclusion, as recent events & reports have shown us.

So.....to link the important role the Manx Solidarity Fund are taking to support the recovery of the Manx community, to my own passionate belief that diversity and inclusion are imperative for the recovery of the wider business community, I intend to ‘get on my bike’ to bring these important themes together in ‘The Tynwald Tour’ - 1019 kilometres in 7 days, starting tomorrow.

AND, as we have no social distancing in the IOM, I can rely on some marital solidarity, sitting on Paul's wheel every day whilst he takes the wind – along with any local cycling friends who would like to to join us on some/all of our many laps of the IOM from 4th-10th July – raising money for the Manx Solidarity Fund and sharing some ‘seriously good statistics’ about the impact of diversity & inclusion on business performance along the way.

All cyclists need regular food, so we will be visiting as many great local eateries as we can cram in across the 7 days - each night we will report our cumulative mileage and tell you the plan and the calling points for the following day - hope to see you at one of them!