Whittlebury Park in Northamptonshire is celebrating a 15-year partnership with the Muscle Help Foundation, a small, multi-award-winning, family-centred charity supporting people living with Muscular Dystrophy and their families across the UK.

The Muscle Help Foundation creates fully funded experiences, known as Muscle Dreams, giving people living with the condition the chance to enjoy something extraordinary and create lasting memories with those closest to them. The experiences are just as important for parents, carers and family members, giving them the opportunity to share in the excitement, enjoy precious time together and experience a day that is about much more than the challenges of everyday life.

Last week, ten of the charity’s Muscle Warriors, aged between 8 and 35yrs, arrived at Whittlebury Park with their families for the Foundation’s flagship Porsche Muscle Dream experience, with the excitement building from the moment they arrived.

The experience got underway in Whittlebury Park’s iconic Silverstone Bar, where walls lined with memorabilia from some of motor racing’s biggest names provided a fitting backdrop for the day ahead. Wearing their Muscle Warrior T-shirts and wristbands, the group heard special video messages from friends of the charity, including comedian Harry Hill and British racing driver and Fifth Gear presenter Vicki Butler-Henderson.

The anticipation stepped up another gear after lunch when the families gathered in the hotel courtyard for the unveiling of three Porsche 911 sports cars. As the cars were revealed and the engines fired up, their roar was met with huge excitement from the Muscle Warriors and their families, setting the scene for what was still to come.

© 2026 Chris Read-Jones Photography, all rights reserved. 

After the charity’s famous Muscle Warrior rallying cheer that reverberated around the Whittlebury Park courtyard,  the group travelled in convoy to the famous Silverstone Circuit, home of the Porsche Experience Centre, where the Muscle Warriors were welcomed by the Porsche team. After a briefing, the ten beneficiaries took to the tracks in a gleaming fleet of 911s for an unforgettable afternoon that included “doughnuts” (spinning the car in circles) on the low-friction skid pan, experiencing the Ice Hill (a 7% slope with computer-controlled water jets and a low-friction surface and a highlight with this year’s cohort being given special permission to drive on the iconic Silverstone racing circuit, the legendary home of the British Grand Prix, adding to the adrenaline-fuelled intervention. For Porsche drivers to go faster, beneficiaries use the code name “Light It Up!” and shout it out.

With the highlight track experience completed the celebrations continued back at Whittlebury Park with the celebratory Muscle Warrior Gala Dinner in the hotel’s Grand Prix Suite. It gave the Muscle Warriors and their families the chance to come together, relive the highlights and bring an extraordinary day to a fitting close.

For 15 years, Whittlebury Park has proudly supported the Muscle Help Foundation, and its Muscle Dream experiences, welcoming Muscle Warriors and their families from across the UK. Over that time, the relationship has grown into something particularly special, with the Whittlebury team playing its part in making each visit a memorable experience for the whole family.

© 2026 Chris Read-Jones Photography, all rights reserved. 

Marc Webster, Commercial Director at Whittlebury Park, said: “There is always such a special atmosphere at Whittlebury Park when the Muscle Warriors and their families arrive, and it’s a day our team genuinely looks forward to being part of.

“We’ve supported the Muscle Help Foundation for 15 years now and, over that time, we’ve seen just how much these experiences mean to the families. We might provide the rooms, the food and a place for everyone to come together, but it’s about so much more than that. It’s about helping families feel at home, giving them time together and playing our part in a day they can look back on for years to come.

“What Michael and the team at the Muscle Help Foundation do is incredibly special, and Porsche creates an amazing experience for the Muscle Warriors at Silverstone. We’re very proud to work alongside them both and to help make the whole experience memorable for every family who comes through our doors.”

Founded in 2003 by Michael McGrath MBE, the Muscle Help Foundation is a family-centred charity supporting people living with Muscular Dystrophy and their families across the UK, with acclaimed actor and filmmaker Sir Kenneth Branagh and TV presenter Lorraine Kelly CBE as its patrons. The charity’s fully funded Muscle Dream programme brings families together through transformational experiences ranging from accessible powerboating and flying to its flagship Porsche programme in addition to virtual wellbeing interventions that support mental and emotional resilience.

The charity recently extended the upper age limit for its Muscle Dream programme from 28 to 35, enabling more adults living with Muscular Dystrophy to take part in its experiences.

Michael McGrath MBE, founder & CEO, Muscle Help Foundation, reflected:

“Fifteen years of partnership with Whittlebury Park is something that the Muscle Help Foundation charity is incredibly proud of. What makes it truly special isn’t just the exceptional hospitality and service; it’s the real heart and passion for great service behind it. The team at Whittlebury Park genuinely care about making a difference.

“For vulnerable children, young people and adults living with Muscular Dystrophy, the charity’s flagship Porsche Muscle Dream programme creates moments in time that become lifelong memories. The combination of having the best time ever, enjoying delicious food, sleeping soundly, and spending precious time with family in a relaxing setting is the ingredients that underpin this special relationship.

“Whittlebury Park has been an extraordinary partner in making those moments happen. The hotel not only provides a wonderful place for our Muscle Warrior beneficiaries from across the UK to come together, but what makes it even more special is how the Whittlebury team pull together in becoming an intrinsic part of the Muscle Dream experience. And after 15 years, one thing is certain: great partnerships create great memories, and teamwork really does make those dreams work!”

Gill Kerr, Head of Porsche Experience Centre, added: 

“The Porsche Experience Centre is honoured to host the 15th Porsche Muscle Dream. It is a real privilege to support the Muscle Help Foundation through an event that brings such joy to the Muscle Warriors and their families. Being able to share the passion, performance and spirit of Porsche in a way that helps create lasting memories is something our whole team is incredibly proud and humbled to be part of.”

To learn more about the Muscle Help Foundation and its work, visit https://www.musclehelp.com/

For more on Whittlebury Park, visit https://www.whittlebury.com/

Explore the experiences available at the Porsche Experience Centre at https://silverstone.porsche.com/en/

Muscular Dystrophy is the collective term for a group of progressive muscle-wasting conditions that cause muscles to weaken over time, affecting mobility and everyday life. The most prevalent form is Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD), which is life-limiting, predominantly affecting boys, making up approximately 96% of the charity’s beneficiary community.

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