About AFK

Disabled and neurodiverse children and young people face many barriers to accessing appropriate equipment, high quality education and sustainable employment. 

Our vision is a world where there are no barriers to independence for children and young people who are disabled or neurodiverse.

Our mission is to create opportunities for children and young people who are disabled or neurodiverse, to increase their independence, reach their individual potential and remove the barriers they face.

We find specialist life-changing mobility equipment for disabled children and young people up to the age of 25 around the UK. Uniquely, we also commit to covering all maintenance and repair costs.

We provide a wide range of holistic and personalised employability services for young people in London for disabled and neurodiverse young people aged 11-25. This includes, but is not limited to, skills and confidence training, job coaching, employment brokering, job search, interview and induction support, supported employment, travel training, leadership skills, self-employment guidance and health and wellbeing support.

- 163 lives changed by mobility equipment​

- 93 young people enrolled on employment and skills training​

- 39 young people completed work placements​

- 9 trainees learnt to travel independently​

- 22 trainees found PAID WORK!

About 15 years of AFK Beach

Being a relatively small charity didn’t stop us having a big, bold idea for a charity event back in 2009! With the support of Sport England, Volleyball England, The London Beach Volleyball Club and SideOut we shoveled 60 tonnes of soft white sand into Broadgate Circle by Liverpool St Station to build one court for 10 teams to play charity beach volleyball. In the mornings when the courts were quiet local schools came to play, most for the first time. Lunchtimes, afternoons and evenings saw people coming out of their office to hire courts and play and the week culminated with a corporate charity tournament for some big city companies. £25,000 was raised from fundraising and corporate sponsorship and we raised lots of awareness for the charity and its services.

 AFK Beach was born and we knew that it had to become an annual fundraiser and we were keen to grow the event. 2012 saw Olympians and Paralympians and the fantastic London 2012 mascots take to the sand, still a highlight for the charity.

 

 We were sad to leave Broadgate in 2013 but the site was to be redeveloped so we moved to Canary Wharf to a far larger space. This gave us the chance to develop the event further in a unique location with two courts, 200 tonnes of sand, a beach bar and beach huts, corporate hospitality, raked seating and the introduction of an elite tournament. The build and the de-rig was massive so we stretched the event to 3 weeks.

 2018 saw the 10-year anniversary of AFK Beach. We extended again to 4 weeks (in scorching weather) for corporate team-building days, the corporate charity championships with teams remaining competing who had been with us since 2009, a junior and adult elite showcase event, a bartender’s tournament, an agencies cup, the property cup, pre-work beach yoga and we brought back all previous champions for a memorable champion of champions event. We never forget our offer of free coaching to schools and community groups and 100s of London’s school children get the chance to play for the first time. Yes, it was bigger and better, but it was still delivered with the same personal touch and all managed in house by the charity with the support of our fabulous SideOut beach volleyball community of coaches and players. AFK Beach 2018 saw us raise £100k and added up to a total of £650,000 over the years. In 2019 we were delighted to win the charity events award for most innovative event against charity giants! We also established ‘Working With Disability’ Week at Canary Wharf and our trainees took part in a wide range of placements at local companies and supporting us on the event delivery.

Sadly in 2020 there was no event due to the pandemic and in 2021 and 2022 so we set up a smaller scale one-day tournament on the permanent courts at SideOut Leyton. In 2023 we returned to Canary Wharf with a beach volleyball extravaganza for schools, the community, companies and top players, raising over £100,000 for AFK!

2025
In a huge summer of sport - we will be back at Canary Wharf from 10th July until 10th August to play beach and sitting volleyball while raising funds and awareness for AFK.
We'll bring coaching, competitions, court hire and the chance to watch the best players for free!
PLUS AFK Beach won the EMMA Live Bespoke Event Challenge Award

Contact beach@afkcharity.org to book a court, enter a team or find out more about sponsorship opportunities.​