A COVENTRY commercial manager has raised more than £3,500 for cancer research by going sober for October – and received a helping hand from his local pub in the process.
Matt Lynch has raised £3,756 for Macmillan Cancer Research and successfully conquered the booze-free Sober October challenge.
The effort has seen him place fifth in the fundraising rankings out of the 34,217 people who took on the challenge.
He received donations from family, friends and colleagues at Midlands-based developer the Deeley Group – but it was his local pub, the Four Provinces, which provided the biggest fundraising boost.
The Four Provinces in Spon End agreed to donate £20 every time Matt visited the pub and didn’t order an alcoholic drink, which resulted in a total of £600 being donated over the course of the month.
His pint of choice is Guinness and despite giving the alcohol-free Guinness Zero a try during the month, Matt is looking forward to getting back to The Four Provinces for a pint of the black stuff.
But Matt says he won’t return to his normal drinking habits.
Matt said: “I am completely overwhelmed to have raised this amount of money considering I am just a bloke that decided not to drink for a month.
“The first week I would say was the most difficult because you are changing your habits.
“I could never be a hermit and wanted to see my friends at the pub, so when The Four Provinces agreed to donate every time I went into the pub that was a great excuse to go and socialise.
“I have definitely seen benefits from not drinking.
“I have managed to lose a stone and a half in 31 days and my sleep and mental health have definitely improved.
“This has taught me that I don’t have to have a drink just because I’ve gone to the pub and I do think I will cut my consumption down now.”
