In September 2024, we were delighted to be honoured by Northampton Town Council Mayor, Councillor Paul Joyce, for our Outstanding Community Contribution.

The honour came in relation to our work with The Lewis Foundation, which was the Mayor’s chosen charity for 2024. We were lucky enough to be invited to a ceremony at Northampton’s Guildhall and awarded a commemorative certificate. 

Step Forward With Lewis is proud to support and organise the Project 16:15 Charity Run in aid of rough sleepers in Northampton.

The event, put on in association with Running Tales and rough sleeper charity Project 16:15 raised more than £1,000 last year and will take place again in 2024. Keep an eye on our Blog for more details.

Michelle supported Go Beyond Challenge by employing her compèring skills at both the Amazing Northampton Run 2023 and 2024, as well as the Shires and Spires Ultra Marathons, greeting tired but happy runners as they completed their races.

She has also warmed-up racers at a number of the popular Quirky Races events, including the Mince Pie, Halloween and Colour Runs.

The Lewis Foundation is one of our favourite charities in Northamptonshire, and we were proud to raise money to buy hampers for cancer patients at Christmas time in each of the last three years.

We also took part in a packing session to get the hampers ready for Christmas in both 2022 and 2021. In 2024, we will be putting on warm-up sessions for competitors at The Lewis Foundation’s running events.

To find out more about the charity visit The Lewis Foundation website.

Beat the Street came to Northamptonshire in 2021, and I think it’s safe to say Step Forward With Lewis embraced the concept.

As a team, we really enjoyed discovering new areas, increasing our running and walking and getting fit. It was also fantastic to see so many new friendships forming as the event progressed.

In the end all the hard work paid off as we managed to win both the Community & Workplace Teams Average Points and Total Points categories.

As well as a couple of lovely shiny trophies we were awarded £500 worth of vouchers. We were delighted to donate £250 of that to substance misuse charity, Bridge which was used to buy new sports equipment.

As well as getting involved in the wider Northampton community, Step Forward With Lewis is committed to helping out in our main base of Hardingstone.

Over the years Michelle has donned fancy dress costumes to keep people smiling while she runs round the area, and our famed Street Dances (see more below) kept people entertained during the coronavirus lockdowns.

Step Forward With Lewis took part in a children’s Christmas event at St Edmund’s Church where Michelle dressed as a giant gingerbread man and a Christmas Tree. She joined the local Brownies for a evening of fun and dancing as well.

Step Forward With Lewis has also been heavily involved in Hardingstone’s Midsummer Merriment event, putting on a fun run for the kids.

We also put on a Halloween run for the kids at Hardingstone Rec.

Michelle Lewis is a proud supporter of Team Daisy.

This fantastic charity was formed in memory of Daisy Chalmers.

Team Daisy holds a wide variety of events, from quiz nights to runs, to raise money for good causes and other charities in the Northamptonshire area.

Step Forward with Lewis joined forces in September 2021 with Team Daisy for our very first Virtual Race, with all money raised going to the charity.

To find out more about the charity visit www.teamdaisy.co.uk

While the country was in the darkest parts of the coronavirus lockdown in 2020, Step Forward with Lewis decided to spread a little light by bringing dance to the streets of Hardingstone – socially distanced of course.

Every Sunday evening, Michelle donned a different crazy costume to help entertain people and help them through the grind of lockdown.

You can read all about how it went through some of the coverage our lovely local media gave us…

Meet the Northampton woman who has been entertaining residents every weekend

Run director Michelle Lewis makes all the right moves

Twelve feel good acts of kindness completed in Northampton during the year of community spirit