Outdoor adventure inspires salon boss to raise money for UK Youth

The owner of an award-winning salon is preparing to race across London in aid of young people.

Daniel “Stanley” Watts – owner of Stanley Watts Hair Salon Greenwich – is among of team of more than 20 runners tackling the 2025 London Marathon in aid of national youth work charity UK Youth.

He was inspired to take part after experiencing UK Youth’s work firsthand during a stay at its Avon Tyrrell Outdoor Centre in the New Forest.

“It was awesome,” says the 48-year-old, who opened his salon in Greenwich, South-East London, in December 2021, having co-owned a salon in Soho, central London, for nearly a decade.

Stanley – who picked up the nickname as  a 16-year-old in his first salon – is now stepping up training to tackle the famous London Marathon on Sunday, April 27, in aid of UK Youth.

“This is not my first marathon,” says the keen runner, “but it’s the only one I’m going to do this year. I’ve done six or seven in total, including London.”

He has even tackled the iconic 26-mile route of the London Marathon in reverse, at night – starting at Buckingham Palace and running in the dark back to his home close to the marathon’s iconic start line in Greenwich Park.

“I live by the start, so I can run the course through the night,” he says. “It’s quite exciting actually, but I got a bit fed up doing the last one at night. I wanted to see some people. I’ve done it officially two or three times, but it can be a bit overwhelming, with the crowds.

“If I go abroad, I tend to go out in the early hours and run. I like the solitude and the peace and quiet.

“However, I got a bit fed up doing that and my son and I had such a great time at Avon Tyrrell, it made sense to run it to support it.”

Avon Tyrrell was his first break as a single dad with son Monty, then aged seven, after splitting from Monty’s mother.

“I thought I’ve got to go into full dad mode, so we got a campervan,” says Stanley. “I was looking for things to do for kids in the New Forest, because I didn’t want to go too far – it was the first time I’d ever driven a campervan.

“We found Avon Tyrrell, went and had an absolute ball – it was awesome. We’ve actually booked to go again for Easter.”

Stanley was especially impressed by Avon Tyrrell’s accessibility, as he witnessed young people with additional needs tackle the outdoor centre’s many activities, from archery, to high ropes, to water-based activities on the site’s lake.

“I wanted Monty to understand how everybody isn’t the same and what it would mean for a child with a disability to go down the zip line or tackle the high ropes, or have a go at archery.

“To fly across the lake on a zip wire, even if you are disabled, that’s freedom, you can do what other people do.

“I wanted to put Monty on a good footing to understand that and he’s got empathy, he gets it – he’s a charming little boy.

“We did two activities a day, including archery, high ropes, bushcraft, the zipwire and we got onto the lake. It’s awesome down there. I mean, you’ve got everything around.

“We went for an early morning walk around the lake. There was birdsong, dew just on top and we just sat there on the pontoon. You feel like you have switched off.”

Good even came about when the campervan alarm went off at 3am, with fellow campers rallying around the embarrassed pair.

“The parents in other camping situations started to come up and ask if we were okay – some gave me a bacon sandwich, someone gave me a beer.

“By the afternoon, everyone was friends. – it was good ice breaker, although an absolute nightmare at the time.”

Stanley is aiming to complete the marathon in under four hours – having “smashed” his personal best in a half-marathon in East London just before Christmas, finishing in about one hour 45 minutes – while raising £2,000 for UK Youth.

To support Stanley, see givengain.com/champion/stanley-watts-1175283

UK Youth is a leading charity with a vision that all young people are equipped to thrive and empowered to contribute at every stage of their lives. With an open network of more than 9,000 youth organisations and nation partners; UK Youth reaches more than four million young people across the UK and is focused on unlocking youth work as the catalyst of change that is needed now more than ever. To find out more, visit ukyouth.org

UK Youth is involved in a range of programmes designed to help young people thrive, such as outdoor learning, physical literacy, social action and employability. For more on UK Youth’s programmes, see ukyouth.org/what-we-do/programmes