Intrepid colleagues from a Lancashire homebuilder have raised £10,000 for their charity of the year - Derian House Children's Hospice. Colleagues from our Lancashire region have raised £10,000 for their charity of the year – Derian House Children’s Hospice. From running a half marathon in safety boots and walking 26 miles to skydiving from 13,000 ft, the challenges were all undertaken by our staff and raised around £8,000 for the charity. This was topped up to £10,000 with a donation from the Anwyl family. The Chorley-based hospice is less than three miles from our Lancashire headquarters in Buckshaw Village and had been chosen as their charity of the year for a second consecutive year. Quantity surveyor John Sutton took on the Great North Run wearing safety boots and a hard hat. Marketing manager Hannah George and homes advisor Richard Bergin also took part in the half marathon event, with Richard’s friend Tom Halliwell joining them in raising money for Derian. Together our runners raised £3,000.
John, from Chorley, said.
“It was absolutely tough. I got round in two hours 31 minutes which is over an hour slower than I’d normally expect in standard runner’s attire. All the support, including the younger spectators shouting, “go Bob the Builder”, and the money raised, kept me going,”
A group of walkers took on the Anwyl Homes’ Great Walk for Derian, raising more than £2,800, including money donated during the 12-hour challenge which started at 6am. Participants included sales director Matthew Gould, area sales managers Imogen Suffell and Amy Houlihan, land director Paul Darwin, commercial trainee Chloe Annis, homes advisor Kelly Boyd and assistant development engineer Sam McMurray, from the Lancashire office, and Helen Tollitt and Jack Schwarz from the Ewloe office.
Senior buyer Dave Lancaster, who was the main support for the walk, said:
“The highlight of the day was the noticeable generosity of people, cars pulling over to give donations, people outside pubs and shops engaging, asking about the charity, giving any spare change they had.”
Homes advisors Sam France and Steph Tam, based at our Priory Gardens development in Burscough, took part in Dare for Derian, raising more than £2,500 by skydiving from 13,000 ft at Black Knights Parachute Centre in Lancaster.
Sam said:
“It was such an incredible experience in aid of such a worthy cause. It was surreal but we both loved it so much and would do another one in a heartbeat.”
John Grime, managing director of Anwyl Homes Lancashire, said:
“Derian House provides such an invaluable service to the local community, supporting families with children who have life limiting conditions. As business building predominantly family homes and with many of our team parents too, we were keen to help the charity. The team have made a fantastic effort with their fundraising – using their skills and trying something new in aid of such a worthy cause.”
For more on the charity see Derian House website.
