Mirthy's 2022: A Year of Achievements, Growth and Partnerships

As the year comes to a close, we wanted to take a moment to reflect on the achievements and milestones we've reached at Mirthy in 2022. It's been a busy and rewarding year for us and we're grateful for the support of our members and partners.

January

One of the highlights of the year was being named one of the "10 Social Impact Startups to Watch in 2022 and Beyond". This recognition was a testament to the hard work and dedication of our team and we're grateful for the opportunity to share our message of promoting mental wellness and community connection with a wider audience.

February

In February, we were excited to announce that we had partnered with Independent Age, a charity organization that works to support older people in the United Kingdom. This partnership allowed us to expand our reach and provide even more support to those in need. It also allowed us to team up with a highly respected organization that shares our values and mission.

March

March was a special month for us as Mirthy turned two! We also marked the occasion with our first in-person Walking Tour, which was a great success and gave us the opportunity to connect with our community in person.

Head of Events, Abbie, who had the pleasure of attending the walking tour said, ”Having the opportunity in March to meet some community members in-person, and the fabulous Andrew Warde who I’ve had the pleasure of working with online for the past 2 years, was such a highlight of my year!”

April

In April, we were thrilled to announce that we won Mental Wellness Social Enterprise of the Year 2022. This was a major achievement for us and a recognition of the impact we've made in promoting mental wellness in our community. Our hosts have played a huge part in this, particularly those who have presented our health and wellbeing events, including our weekly Tai Chi classes, fortnightly laughter yoga and weekly meditation sessions!

When asked about her Mirthy highlight of 2022, Susan said, “Mirthy provides nourishment for the body, spirit and mind. My highlights have been Sinsi Ong's meditation; Helen Tudge's seated Pilates, and Loona Hazarika and Andrew Warde's London/history talks. The Mandala workshop was fun, as was the live visit to a Diwali street market. Angela Bell's crosswords, Abbie's book club, Tai Chi, Literature - aaaargh - there is so much. The Mirthy seed was sown by kind sons hoping to cheer their parents' retirement in Covid lockdown, and has grown and blossomed to enrich the lives of a global community. Long may it continue. Thank you so much.”

In addition, Clare said, “My highlight has been Helen Tudge’s early morning stretch. I was waking up a lot in the night with sore hips. My oncologist said I needed to do some stretches. As long as I do her class every day or two I sleep through”. We are so proud to have a community that can truly benefit from what we have to offer and we wish everyone health and happiness in 2023 and beyond.

Another major milestone was reached in April - 40,000 Mirthy members! This growth is owed to many factors, but much of it is due to our wonderful members spreading the word, and we hope it continues into 2023! We're proud to have such an engaged community and look forward to continuing to build connections around the world.

May

In May, we were busy at Mirthy conducting research and making detailed plans in preparation for a very exciting June…

June

June was a big month for us at Mirthy. We hosted the Festival of Belonging as part of the Marmalade Trust's Loneliness Awareness Week. This was a free online festival that brought together experts and community members to discuss the importance of belonging and connection.

We were also excited to announce our partnership with Reader's Digest, which has enabled us to reach a much wider audience and contribute articles and stories from our community to the Reader’s Digest Magazine.

Finally, to top off a brilliant month, Mirthy was named runner-up in the Digital Leaders #DL100 SME of the Year award. This prestigious award recognizes small and medium-sized enterprises that are making a significant impact in the digital world.

July

In July, co-founders Alex and Dhruv were named finalists for Entrepreneur of the Year in the Great British Entrepreneur Awards!

July also saw the launch of the first issue of Mirthy Explorer Magazine, a publication that shares stories, resources, and ideas for promoting mental wellness and community connection.

Editor of the Mirthy Explorer, Mahalia said, “The magazine has been a personal project for me, and something I am immensely proud to say I achieved in 2022. Initially inspired by our events programme, which is always carefully crafted and curated by my brilliant colleague, Abbie, the magazine has since taken on a life of its own, whilst still complimenting the events we have on offer each month. Having the honour to receive so many incredible community submissions makes me feel extremely lucky to have a job where I can be in touch with so many other wonderful creative minds and I can’t wait to see what The Mirthy Explorer has in store for us all in 2023!”

August

In August, we held a ‘Community Leader Training Event’. From that event, we added several community led interest groups to our regular event programme, including ‘Feel-Good Club’, ‘Culture Club’, ‘Poetry Community Club’, ‘Family History Detective Club’, ‘Children’s Literature Book Club’, and ‘Crochet and Chat’.

Abbie said, “Some of my 2022 highlights include the addition of community-led groups such as Family History Group, Poetry Community Club, Feel-Good Club, Children’s Literature Group and Culture Club onto the programme (thanks to our fabulous community leaders), and of course leading the Book Club with support from our new partners Readers’ Digest. I’m also particularly looking forward to the ‘Dare To Be’ event series in January!”

Debbie, who leads Culture Club said, “for me there are many highlights - one being watching the Mirthy Family go from strength to strength and watching the "Mirthy map" of members spreading across the globe. On a personal level a highlight for me of 2022 has to be being allowed to host a new community group - in my case The Culture Club - this is something I did not think I would have the confidence to do and it was due to the brilliant support from Abbie and Mahalia and all the participants that we have now started monthly meetings - a million thanks to all concerned”.

August brought another exciting partnership, this time with Parsley Box. As sponsors of our Health and Wellbeing and Food & Drink categories, this allowed us to grow these particular event categories, expand on our events programme and reach even more people.

September

In September, we announced our partnership with Rock Choir, with three special events in collaboration with them, including Rock & Sign and Vocal Yoga! We look forward to Rock Choir bringing more music to our community in 2023! Rachael, who joined us from Rock Choir, said “Fantastic to join Mirthy as a Rockie!! Have loved the photography sessions with John Humphrey.” - it’s great to have you in our community Rachael!

We also launched our Trustpilot review page in September and since then we have collected over 500 reviews with an average score of 4.8. Here are some of our favourite reviews:

October

Mr Motivator joined our cohort of Mirthy hosts in October, with his regular Wednesday Fizzical class which invites both the Mirthy audience and members of his own Motivation Club to exercise together, providing an intergenerational experience.

November

In November, we announced our partnership with Historic Houses, an organisation that represents over 1,500 historic houses, castles, and gardens in the United Kingdom. This partnership was exciting news for our members, as it meant that we would be able to offer even more unique and exciting events and experiences in the new year.

December

December has been a month to reflect on the past year at Mirthy and celebrate all the achievements with our members. We asked community member and facilitator of Culture Club Debbie what her highlights were and she said, “I have so so many memories of the Mirthy year 2022 but my favourite would have to be composing ‘The Twelve Days of Mirthy Christmas’ - after a few minutes of thought I struggled to manage to scribe all the ideas that were given and I think we could have done 24 days of Christmas!”

Some more honourable mentions from the community:

“For me a highlight was dancing Swan Lake under the tutelage of Lucia. A truly memorable experience I wouldn't have had without Mirthy” - Lynda

“‘Women Writers who changed the course of history’ was my biggest highlight. Kathleen Jones delivered very informative and enlightening sessions which were very inspiring for me too, as I embark on a writing project for the first time. Thank you Mirthy for these opportunities!” - Jennifer

To summarise the year, Alex said:

"It's been wonderful to see our community grow this year as well as the service offering. The team have launched a magazine, increased and broadened the range of events and content available through the platform, as well as released lots of exciting new techie features such as a recommendation engine, the ability to social share your event booking, and our member dashboard." Overall, it's been a busy and rewarding year for Mirthy and we're grateful for the support of our members and partners. We are excited to continue connecting with our growing community in 2023!