Community Heroes: Aoife Bradley's passion for raising spirits and funding

Navan woman Aoife Bradley has a natural flair for fundraising and organising community events to spread cheer and goodwill, something she has done time and time again in recent years.

Aoife’s appetite for charity literally began at home when her mother Bernadette - who has since made a fantastic recovery - was diagnosed with oesophageal cancer 11 years ago. This spurred Aoife to organise a ‘Spring Clean your Wardrobe’ event in 2013 to raise money for cancer research, where people were asked to bring in pre-loved clothes to her Navan fitness centre where a second-hand clothes sale was held that raised €5,500.

“I just got the buzz for it from then,” she says and although there is always a bit of work involved, she insists that “the outcome always outweighs the effort put in, I cannot stress this enough.”

During Covid, Aoife organised some great family events including a Trick or Treat Treasure Hunt by car for Halloween 2020, which was not run for charity, but simply ‘to bring the community together’ at a time when children were not getting to do traditional trick or treating and it was a ‘great hit’ with families. Aoife then did a similar event at Easter 2021 where over 450 families registered for a small fee, equating to €5,000 going to Meath River Rescue – a charity that Aoife holds dear, following her best friend, Emma-Jane Daly’s, passing some years ago.

“I have seen first-hand how important this work is and how hard the volunteers work in Meath River Rescue,” she says.

Just after the first lockdown Aoife organised another event, ‘Lift our Spirits with Fitness’ in the MDL Navan, where she brought around 20 other fitness instructors along to hold a day of fitness classes where all fees raised from classes held were passed on to SOSAD in Navan, with almost €4,500 raised. Other events organised in the recent past include a North/South Navan run to raise money for young cancer sufferer Nahyan Javed and the vigil for Aisling Murphy in Blackwater Park.

“What you can give to these organisations and these families is incredible. And yes, it is hard work…but it is very, very rewarding. And you are never on your own. I have always had people behind me. I might come up with some ideas and might be a bit of the driving force, but you always have a team.”

The most recent event organised was the 'Women Who Wow' night in the Newgrange Hotel, Navan where Aoife invited women to come together - including those she had connected with online during lockdown - to simply celebrate being a woman and to mark the end of lockdown.

All €10,000 raised through ticket sales for this “amazing” event went directly to Meath Women's Refuge in Navan, with donations still being accepted.

Not to leave out the equivalent male charity, recently one of Aoife’s spin classes each Monday for five weeks was filled with just men and all the money raised went directly to Men’s Aid in Navan, raising €1,000.

The fitness enthusiast who will celebrate her 43rd birthday soon, has had her own wellness and health issues in the last few years. During a high-risk pregnancy with mono-amniotic twins when she was put on bed-rest for 18 weeks, with her beautiful twin girls Chloe and Ava (now almost eight), it was discovered that she had a fibroid that had grown over her womb and she was forced to have a hysterectomy two and half years ago.

Following this, she went into early menopause with sudden and intense symptoms due to the change in hormone levels brought on by the hysterectomy.

Aoife also suffered with her mental health during her difficult pregnancy and following the birth.

“I had envisioned being pregnant and then going to mother and baby groups (after the birth) but I was literally a bundle of worry for the whole time.”

Aoife’s business naturally suffered around then, as she spent time in hospital, nurturing her new family members and also as more competition entered the fitness market. It then took her a substantial amount of time to build up clientele and her brand MyStudio again. But she did it with sheer hard work and determination. She also recently entered a new business venture with Fuel8 – a food truck business based at the front of Beechmount Business Park.

Aoife acknowledges her husband Alan Chaney’s ‘great support’ throughout all of her endeavours.

“We can be very yin and yang, but he is a great support to me and he can ground me,” she laughs. “He will say after one thing, right what’s the next event Aoife?” Of huge prominence also are her kind and devoted mother Bernadette who is always there for her and hard-working father Aidan.

No doubt Aoife’s next big idea is only around the corner and she will make it a reality before too long too with her refreshing mix of optimism, kindness and honesty. “If you put it out into the universe and you are a good person, I do believe things come back for you,” she says too, which is a mantra that she holds dear.