Ionic Lodge

Earlier this year in January, W Bro Edward Compton of Islington Lodge took part in Cancer Research's 100 Push Ups a Day Challenge for charity.  Thirty-one gruelling days of 100 push ups a day, he completed 3,100 push ups overall.  Bearing in you have to go down to push up, he was up and down 6,200 times in total.  

To prove he had completed each daily trial, Edward recorded himself every day and posted his progress on social media.  Raising an excellent £830 for Cancer Research, we caught up with Metropolitan Grand Lodge's Mr Muscle to find out more. 

Fantastic achievement, Edward.  You must be so proud to have raised such a large sum of money.  Why did you take on this challenge?

“I’m really proud of myself and incredibly grateful to everyone who contributed. I took on the 100 push-ups a day challenge to push myself both physically and mentally, and to raise awareness for a cause that means a lot to me. It was about showing commitment, consistency, and proving that small daily actions can create a big impact especially when you’re doing it for something bigger than yourself. The support I received kept me going every single day.

Now it’s on to the next challenge: reading 100 words a day from my ritual book and honestly, that might be the tougher one!”

100 push-ups a day for 31 days is no mean feat!  It must have been extremely tiring.  How tough was this challenge?

“It was a real challenge.  Some days I’d do 10 sets of 10 repetitions (reps), other days 5 sets of 20.  I even managed 50 reps straight off and then another 50 reps in the evening.  A couple of times I needed to rest my wrists, so needed wrist straps.  And I once had to do 20 sets of 10 reps as I missed a day!  The most soul destroying was when I was in the garden in just shorts in January with heavy rain and just wanted to brave it out – as the tough guy I am – but whilst filming with my waterproof phone case doing 50 press ups, what I didn’t know was the phone fell over after 10 reps!”

You had a novel approach to keep the challenge interesting for yourself and those who supported you, didn’t you?

"To keep it interesting sometimes I wore different outfits or played different songs over the recordings. Some people who sponsored me, I messaged them and said ‘what song do you want me to play?’ When they requested a song, I thought I wonder if I can put something to that, in a different scene, do it in the garden or do it outside.  I dressed up as a clown to help make me laugh.  I enjoying putting a smile on people’s faces.  Also, it’s nice how people at work wanted to join me.”

“My close friend jumped at the opportunity to do press ups with me at his fireman’s watch.  All the guys chipped in and donated, then they said, ‘Can we join you?’  Shout out to Enfield’s Red Watch! [If you look at the photo] I was the one in the middle struggling because I had added weight!”

Cancer Research contacted Edward on his marvellous effort saying, “We wanted to say a huge congratulations for taking on the 100 Push-Ups a Day Challenge.  You should be so proud!  Thanks to you and all of our amazing pushers, we’ve raised an incredible amount of money that will help us develop new treatments that will protect future generations.”

Cancer Research UK is the world's largest cancer research organisation.  The charity's work is funded almost entirely by the public. It conducts vital research and runs numerous campaigns to raise public awareness and increase early detection and diagnosis. Indeed, Cancer Research’s work has helped to double cancer survival in the UK in the last 50 years.  As well as a fantastic team of staff, Cancer Research UK is supported by 25,000 volunteers.  If you would like to find out more about the charity, please visit their website at www.cancerresearchuk.org 

Well done, W Bro Edward on a wonderful and laudable achievement! 

If you or a Brother have a fundraising, volunteering or charitable story and would like to let us know, please email us at .

This article is part of the Arena Magazine Issue 58 – Summer 2025 edition.
Arena Magazine is the official online magazine of the London Freemasons – Metropolitan Grand Lodge and Metropolitan Grand Chapter of London.

Read more articles in Arena Issue 58 here.

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