Joel Farrell on Wildminds and Movember

04/11/2020

In what is a strange time for the whole world, people are finding different ways to cope and move forward despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

For rugby league players outside of the top tier, there’s no sport to play and with another lockdown on its way - more uncertainty looms.

However, Eagles forward Joel Farrell has been taking on a new venture called Wildminds - centred around protecting the environment and the benefits of exploring nature.

“It fell into place due to the pandemic,” he explained.

“I have always been into taking photos and how it helps with people’s mental health and I thought that it would do the same for me.

“Getting back into nature - the woods being one of the places we can go in the pandemic - jumping into waterfalls and cold water swimming, it’s something I really enjoy and that comes under the Wildminds banner.

“I also want to raise awareness about the environment, and to get people to move away from single use plastics like bottles, straws and forks.

“We want to keep our oceans and animals safe and this is the best place to start.”

Farrell is also taking part in Movember, which raises awareness for men’s health while participants grow a tache.

Also under the Wildminds banner, Farrell and a workmate started the fundraiser and fellow Eagles Brad Knowles and James Glover have also joined.

Discussing the people involved, Farrell added: "Me, Glover and Brad Knowles have decided to do Movember as part of Wildminds too, alongside ex-Eagle Jon Magrin, Anthony Mullally and the Newsome Panthers team that I coach,”

“It’s a mate that I work with that got the ball rolling with Movember.

“Everyone has wanted to get involved from there, we have about 20 of us at the minute.

“When we first started it, we set a donation target of £250 and before November even came around we had already hit it.

“We have put it up to £1000 now and we are on £575 as of Tuesday.”

You can donate to the Wildminds' Movember effort by clicking here. 

By Dan Fowler