Gen Z’s answer to Mr Bean, TikTok sensation Niall Macmillan, has launched a cow-milking fundraising challenge, chosen by his 8million social media followers.

Dad-of-three Niall is raising funds to provide a new therapy tool which supports children with autism in as many UK schools as possible, after his three-year-old son was diagnosed with autism last year.

He’s partnered with TV farmer Tom Pemberton for his first challenge – to milk 5 litres of milk from a cow in one session. Tom, who presents BBC Three programme the Fast and the Farmer-ish, is supplying the cows and some milking lessons, with the challenge taking place at his family farm in Lytham St Anne’s on Sunday 10th December.
The cow milking challenge was chosen by Niall’s 8 million social media followers across TikTok and Instagram and is the first of multiple fundraising activities he’s planning over the next few months.

Niall, who has a 9-5 job alongside creating his hilarious videos, is raising money to help install as many Cubbie Sensory Hubs in schools around the UK as possible to support children with autism, like his youngest son Ellison.
The hub – an immersive cubicle created by Irish company Cubbie – offers Personalised Sensory Regulation within an easy-to-use, safe, personal space of sound and vision to soothe the user’s senses.

It allows people to remove themselves from a hectic, noisy environment if they feel overwhelmed, spend 5-15minutes in the Hub to regulate their senses and feel more calm, and then return to what they were doing.
Niall, whose TikTok character is rarely seen without a glass of milk, said: “Cow milking has never been a great ambition of mine, but we let the social media family decide my challenge and now I am milking a cow whether I like it or not! I’m so glad to have Tom on board to help give me the basics and of course to make sure the cows are happy!! And thank you to everyone who has donated money already and to those who are supporting me, it really means a lot.

“As parents, we’ve been on a huge learning journey since Ellison was diagnosed with autism. Sensory overload can be a huge challenge for people with autism and the Cubbie Sensory Hub is so clever – it uses technology to help people with autism and ADHD quickly re-regulate their senses and feel less overwhelmed. School environments are busy, noisy places at times that can create overwhelm and sensory dysregulation. That’s why I think it’s so important to have a Cubbie Sensory Hub in every school across the country and why I’m planning some amusing fundraising stunts over the next little while.”

Tom Pemberton, who has more than 550,000 subscribers on his Farm Life YouTube channel, added: “This is actually a pretty tough challenge for Niall! As a novice, to achieve 5litres through manual milking is definitely a challenge but it’s going to be good fun and it’s all for a fantastic cause so we’re delighted to be involved.”

Cubbie users can benefit from spending as little as 5, 10 or 15minutes in the hub and research shows that having the technology within a school setting can:

• Pre-empt and prevent sensory overload
• Balance and serve the needs of individual students
• Deliver less disruption and improved participation in the classroom (including for the hub user)
• Improve relaxation and reduce stress and anxiety within the wider school setting

The Cubbie Hub technology also means that users’ visual and audio preferences can be stored and immediately reinstated during their next time in the hub.

Here is the link for the justgiving page: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/niall-macmillan?utm_term=8zbnjxDBy