GM Fundraising has announced the final Paddle2Pedal fundraising total of £108,494.
The total was announced at the industry G Awards on Friday 17 November, where those from the team who were in attendance were invited onto the stage to hear the announcement.
The inaugural female only event, which took place in August, challenged 12 ladies from the fenestration industry to canoe 100-miles of the River Wye, abseil 135ft down Symonds Yat and cycle 120-miles to Hope House in Oswestry.
“This fantastic total is a true reflection of the team’s sheer grit and determination shown throughout, not just in the challenge itself, but in their training and fundraising efforts too,” said Gary Morton, chairman of GM Fundraising. “This was the first all-female challenge GM Fundraising has ever organised and the 12-strong team certainly gave the boys a run for their money, myself included. Over the 20 years of GM Fundraising, and with all the events we have organised, you develop certain expectations of an inaugural event but the girls smashed it in every way. The camaraderie and team ethic was so strong; each and every member dug deep, pulled through and supported each other to do the same. What a huge success!
“Special thanks must go to our headline sponsor, Epwin Group, who not only contributed financially to this challenge, but also allowed the time for two of their leading ladies to take part, including the finance director who lead the canoeing element of this challenge.
“All the money raised goes directly to Hope House Children’s Hospices as each of the team covered their own costs for the challenge. We were also supported by our Headline sponsor Epwin Group, along with FIT Show, The Glazine and CentralRPL.”
Andy Goldsmith, chief executive of Hope House, added: “Every year, long-time supporters GM Fundraising go that extra mile to help the children and families who need us. This year they went even further than even they dreamed possible with the Paddle 2 Peddle team, who have raised over £108,000. This is enough to pay for all the running costs for specialist care to children at Hope House Children’s Hospice for 10 days, which is truly staggering! There are not enough words in the English dictionary to describe how grateful we are or how lucky we feel to have such wonderful support from the whole team. A huge thank you.”
Gary concluded: “Thank you to everyone that has supported us throughout – and not just from GM Fundraising and the Paddle2Pedal team, but from all the children, families and staff at Hope House.”
The team was comprised of: Clare O’Hara (Epwin Group), Katrina Earl (Epwin Group), Christina Shaw (Glass News), Natasha Erskine (GGF), Charlotte Davies (Edgetech), Sarah Ball (Balls2Marketing), Tina Moorhouse (Oakland Glass), Deborah Hendry (Kolorseal), Amy Perrin (Quickslide), Helen Noble (Liniar), Nikki Dunbar (Liniar) & Sioned Webb (ALUK), and were supported by Gary Morton (GM Fundraising), Alan Sadler (GM Fundraising), Graeme Bailey (GM Fundraising), Glyn Moorhouse (Oakland Glass) and Justin Lazenby (Glass News).
