Tabby Kerwin’s 50-2-50 Challenge
One woman. One year. Three causes.
For Simon. For Ellerie. For Better.

50 challenges. A 50th birthday. 2 x 50km treks.

From October 2026 to October 2027, I’m taking on a year of challenges that will push me further than I’ve ever gone, raising funds and awareness for three causes close to my heart, with two special people in mind, and ending with two back-to-back 50km treks in the Himalayas and Northern Vietnam over my 50th birthday and the anniversary of my husband Simon’s death.

To mark turning 50-years-old (a privilege my dad Pip and brother Marc did not have), I’m doing 50 challenges over 12 months, then walking two 50km treks in two countries, back to back, over my birthday in October 2027 and the anniversary of my husband Simon’s death in November 2027. Every step raises awareness and money for Brass on the Mind, Ellerie’s Glimmers and the Good Grief Trust.

Why I’m doing this

I’ve always loved a challenge. It’s how I feel my best, find a reason to get fitter and stronger, feel gratitude for having the ability to do such a thing when so many people close to me have lost their ability for living, and prove to myself what’s still possible. But a challenge on its own has never been enough for me. It has to mean something. It has to help someone. It has to be for the better of others.

This one carries my whole heart. My 50th birthday falls in the same month I’ll be trekking the Himalayas, and the second trek, through Northern Vietnam, falls around the anniversary of losing my husband Simon in 2018. I’m not walking away from my grief. Rather, I’m packing it up in a backpack and walking with it, turning it into something that helps other people living with loss. That is the honest truth behind this challenge and the spine of my next book ‘Widowhood Made Me Happier’, the writing of which will accompany my year of challenges.

The Three Causes

Brass on the Mind
www.brassonthemind.co.uk

Protecting the mental health of brass band musicians, in memory of my late husband Simon Kerwin. My aim is to enrol and train 1,000 brass band mental health and wellbeing leads for FREE by the end of 2027. Simon gave his life to brass banding, and this keeps his name in the movement we both love and looks after the people within it. Find out more at http://www.brassonthemind.co.uk.

Ellerie’s Glimmers
www.instagram.com/elleriesglimmers

In celebration of Ellerie Daisy Carrol, who heartbreakingly died from DIPG (brain tumour) in May 2026 at the age of nine years old. Ellerie was and continues to be the most amazing force for positivity in my and my son’s extended family and the wider world. She still continues to change the world since her death. Ellerie’s Glimmers, a CIC set up by Ellerie’s amazing mum and dad, Freya & Christian, supports children and young people affected by cancer, along with their siblings. It helps children who are missing education because of cancer treatment stay connected with learning through tutoring, educational resources, and learning equipment, and it provides support and activities specifically for siblings, recognising the impact a child’s cancer diagnosis has on their education and wellbeing. Funds raised help bring a little light and normality to children and siblings during an incredibly difficult time.

The Good Grief Trust
www.thegoodgrieftrust.org

As someone who is no stranger to grief and has lived with grief since she was 16 years old, supporting an extraordinary charity that helps people living with loss find reassurance, comfort, and a way forward was hugely important to me. It’s what I needed when I first became acquainted with grief. The Good Grief Trust’s work sits right alongside everything I do around grief and bereavement in my consultancy and speaking work and in the grief-informed training company I co-direct with my son Olly, The PERFORM Experience Ltd.

Where Your Donation Goes

I’m funding every penny of my own trek and challenge costs myself, so 100% of what you give reaches these three causes in the agreed split.

55% – Brass on the Mind

25% – Ellerie’s Glimmers

20% – Good Grief Trust

When you donate, you are not paying for my flights or my boots. You are protecting a brass band musician’s mental health, bringing light to a child facing cancer and comforting someone living with loss.

The 50 challenges...

Across the year I’ll take on 50 challenges of every shape and size. Some will test my body, some will test my nerve, and some are simply about bringing people together, so I’m hoping plenty of you will get involved.

Here’s what’s ahead:

• 24 training treks, each a minimum of 7km
• 50k steps every week…for 50 weeks!
• 9 Brass on the Mind virtual and in-person roadshow events
• 50 more pieces of free music for brass band in the Kerwin Music Library, composed or arranged by Simon Kerwin
• A brass band-related Guinness World Record attempt
• 3 x 5km races
• 3 x 10km races
• A Hyrox competition
• An open water swim
• A zip wire challenge
• An intensive Reformer Pilates Day
• A grief cafe
• A silent auction
• 2 downloadable 31-day challenges you can do from home

… and the Grand Finale:

TWO x 50km, back-to-back hikes….

The challenge builds to an exciting peak over my 50th birthday in October 2027 and the anniversary of my husband Simon’s death in November 2027, with two 50km treks walked back-to-back: the first through the Himalayas and Northern India, the second through the hill-tribe country of Northern Vietnam. Two countries, 100km, one unforgettable birthday, every step for Simon, for Ellerie, and for better.

How you can help

• Donate. Every pound goes to the three causes. Give once, or sponsor specific challenges.
• Join in. Walk a training trek with me, take on a 31-day challenge from home, or for brass banders, get involved in the FREE Brass on the Mind events and enrol and train for FREE as a mental health and wellbeing lead in your band (or just enrol and train to help yourself).
• Share. Please follow the journey and spread the word. Awareness is its own kind of fundraising.
• Partner. If your organisation or brand would like to sponsor me, part of my trip or kit, a challenge or match-fund a milestone, I’d love to hear from you.

ABOUT TABBY

I’m not just a psychologist who teaches about grief. I’m a widow who has grown through it.

I was widowed at 41. I know the shock, the loneliness, the identity crisis, and the exhaustion of performing “fine” for everyone else. When I was widowed, I had to start navigating life solo.

A solo mum.

A solo life.

A solo CEO and business owner…

…and I didn’t have family around to lean on.

There weren’t resources to show me what to do. I worked it out.

I worked out how to be happy and thriving and honour my loss…

… and now I want to share that with YOU. To help you be happier in widowhood too.

I also know (from lived experience and 20+ years of psychology) that it is possible to build a life that is genuinely, meaningfully, joyfully yours again.

I travel solo. I run my company. I have adventures I never imagined. I laugh — really laugh — most days.

And every single day, I miss Simon.

Both are true. Both are allowed. And I want to show you how.

Thank You!

Still not sure? Email me. I’d rather you ask than wonder. Drop me a line at tabbyk@theperformexperience.com