P&G winners' stories: Tracey Tompkins

In November P&G, the Proud Sponsor of Mums, launched the Champion Mums' Foundation: A campaign offering hardworking mums the chance to be awarded a bursary from a whopping £150,000 pot. The only stipulation was that the award had to be used towards making a positive difference to the winners' lives as mums, to their family or to the community. Here mum Tracey Tompkins, tells us what winning the prize meant to her...

'I've lived in the village of Mendham in Suffolk for 40 years, and there's never been a playground. Giving our children a healthy lifestyle can be difficult when the facilities aren't there, and as a mum of four, including two active young boys, I wanted to do something.

‘Our new village hall and youth club has a playing field, which is fine in the summer but not during the winter. With this in mind, I thought a floodlit MUGA (multi-use games area) for football, netball, hockey and basketball would be a real treat for the kids to use all year round.

‘So I and a few others from the village hall committee applied for planning permission to get it built. There was overwhelming support, and we set to work raising funds immediately. But this sort of play area doesn't come cheap, and while we'd already secured a large sum, we still had some way to go.

‘Then I read that the P&G Champion Mums' Foundation was giving mums bursary awards to help their families and communities. I applied because our project would help lots of mums - we have 70 children registered at the youth club and 13 active parents.

‘Everyone was so delighted when we were awarded the bursary because it meant we could start building the MUGA. This will benefit children from 15 schools, giving them a safe place to play and keep fit. Plus it will bring the community together and make Mendham a nicer place to live.

‘Once it's done my children willget their mum back, too. All this planning and fundraising is hard work, but completely worth it!' 

Behind the prize

For the past 170 years, P&G has been making household and beauty products to help make mums' lives that little bit easier, like Nice 'n Easy, Ariel Stain Remover and Lenor. Now, as the Proud sponsor of Mums, it's helping mums in other ways to say a big thank you for all the amazing things that they do every day Find out more at thankyoumum.pg.com