Sue Switalski, Marketing Manager for
National Mobile Windscreens, reports on a marathon fundraiser for MRF.
Our 5 day marathon relay began yesterday. It started from Pilkington (EDC) in Redditch to Evesham in Worcestershire totalling 15 miles with the team carrying a mini rear door glass. This walk has been organised to celebrate National Mobile Windscreens' 40 year anniversary and promote Meningitis Research Foundation to raise funds and awareness of this deadly disease, our company charity of nearly 20 years.
We shall celebrate how George Douglas started the company in 1971 working out of a mini van and George will take part in the walk on day 5 (24th June). Upon arriving at the Meningitis Research Foundation head office in Thornbury, Bristol George will fit this very piece of glass that has been carried for the 5 days, to a replica mini van. The press have been invited to attend each leg so we hope to maximise the exposure in the papers and magazines.
Phil Lomas, Cyril Getlevog, Tom Harrington and Gary Hobbs undertook the first leg yesterday and I have heard from the team that they completed the 15 miles from Redditch to Twyford in a remarkable 4 hours 40 minutes. They started out at 9.10 am and had completed the walk by 1.50 pm.
I understand that only one plaster was administered, no stops made, the piece of glass is still intact and a member of the public parked up behind the support van to make a donation. It was all plain sailing and uneventful and the team managed the first leg in brilliant time. So they ‘throw down the gauntlet’ to the team walking tomorrow, in setting the benchmark at 4 hours 40 minutes for the 15 mile leg.
We have received £1,000 in cheques plus 150 euros from 5 suppliers and all the walkers have sponsor forms, plus they are collecting en route.
The team walking from Twyford to Bishops Cleeve today are Roger Sherriff, Sales Manager, Nic Fortey, Worcester Branch Manager,
John Timmins, Worcester Automotive Glass Engineer. Paul Skinner is organising the walk and driving the support vehicle for the 5 days and Jamie Huston is our own paparazzi (resident photographer) and first aider for the 5 days.
I shall update you tomorrow on how Roger, Nic and John do and we wish them all the very best for their 14.5 miles.
You can sponsor Nic - http://www.justgiving.com/nic-fortey or David http://www.justgiving.com/david-stevens82
Day Two
STOP PRESS
Here is the evidence we have been waiting for – Day 1 shows Phil, Cyril, Gary and Tom walking the walk! The sum total of money that this group have been sponsored amounts to: £264 so on top of the £1100 gives us a running total of £1364. So well done to you and all staff, family, friends and supporters for pledging money for this very worthwhile cause.
Day 2 saw Nic Fortey, Manager and John Timmins, Automotive Glass Engineer both from Worcester branch and Roger Sherriff, Sales Manager take to the road. They completed their 14.5 miles in 4 hours and 5 minutes
The start of the walk began with a bit of rain but that soon cleared and the sun came out and lasted for the entire walk. The photo of Roger demonstrates his determination to raise those much needed funds and at the first sight of a “human” (there are a lot of grass verges on this walk) he seizes the opportunity to grab those coins (the lady did not appear too unhappy from the smile on her face).
Roger stopped off at an A Plan customer in Evesham where staff were delighted to donate some money and then visited P J Nichols a Ford dealership who do not use us and not only managed to secure some money but a “hot lead” for the Area Sales Executive to follow up.
Paul Skinner tells me that Jamie did have to administer another plaster and saw the odd hobble today. But Paul said the amount of support from the public with cheers, waves and horns going is all worth it and the team wore constant smiles plus lots of money was collected en route.
Tomorrow’s team (Day 3) are:
- Denis Reed, Quality Manager
- Dawn Milne, Area Sales Executive
- David Stevens, Team Supervisor, Worcester
- Ian Clarke, Assistant Branch Manager, Worcester
Very well done to our walkers of day 1 and 2 and best of luck to the day 3 team and you have to beat 4 hours and 5 minutes.
Day Three
Day 3 team made up of Denis Reed (Quality Manager), Dawn Milne (Area Sales Executive), David Stevens (Team Supervisor, Worcester) and Ian Clarke (Assistant Branch Manager, Worcester) successfully completed their 16 miles in 5 hours 10 minutes. This was an excellent time when you consider that they were walking through a city, called upon endless businesses collecting cash and experienced a minor diversion with a road closure. So well done to the team for a fantastic walk in great time.
The day started with a slight mishap whereby the mini rear door glass was dropped upon handover (BUT IT DID NOT BREAK) as it is safely tucked away in a carry bag and they walked in brilliant sunshine all the way. It just started to rain when they reached the car park at the end.
Paul and Jamie even managed to find time to collect along the route and came across a lady in Staverton Village who was most willing to make a donation as her grandson had contracted meningitis at the age of 2, but he is now aged 21 years old. She spoke very highly of the charity as the family had a huge amount of support from MRF when the grandson was first diagnosed and was more than happy to make a donation.
The total yesterday was £1364 and the total amount of sponsorship pledged to Dawn, Denis, Ian and David on their sponsorship forms is £345 – so the total as it stands today but excluding any money collected along the route is £1709.
Well done to the team today - you did a brilliant job with a fantastic amount of money pledged on your forms and a lot of money collected along the way.
The Day 4 team tomorrow are:
Martyn Bennett – Sales and Marketing Director and champion runner for the MRF charity – having raised over £2,000 in the last year
Lee North – Area Sales Executive
Mark MacKenzie – Area Sales Executive
James Moore – Operational Support Engineer
Very well done to our walkers of day 1, 2 and 3 and best of luck to the Day 4 team and the mini door glass is getting closer to it’s destination.
Day four
Today’s walk with Martyn Bennett, Lee North, Mark MacKenzie and Jamie Moore got off to a great start at 8.47 am this morning and it would appear that the focus is all about “time”. The sales team being incredibly competitive are having an inter-team challenge it would seem and Dawn Milne who walked yesterday, was eager to find out the times of her colleagues against the time taken by Dawn’s group. I can tell you that the piece of glass was received by Paul Skinner at 1.10 pm so they completed their 15½ miles in a fantastic 4 HOURS 23 MINUTES.
Friends, families and colleagues have pledged £360 on the sponsor forms of today’s walkers, so the total is now: £2,069 but this does not include the money collected along the way.
Paul has worked out the daily totals in terms of time taken to complete one mile and see below the results:
Day 1 Took 18.6 minutes
Day 2 Took 16.8 minutes
Day 3 Took 19.37 minutes
Day 4 Took 16.96 minutes
So Roger Sherriff, John Timmins and Nic Fortey’s team were the quickest and well done to them.
However, we should not lose sight of our objectives which are to promote our Company Charity, Meningitis Research Foundation to the full, raise those much needed funds and create awareness of the symptoms and promote National Mobile Windscreens and our 40th anniversary and you are all doing a brilliant job. You have raised a great deal of money with your sponsor forms and even more by collecting along the way and Paul and Jamie are doing a wonderful job as support crew.
Today’s walk was dry with only 20 minutes of rain but muggy and overcast.
As part of the daily rations for the walkers, Paul had acquired a box of high energy bars and I am told that today’s group have been tucking into them along with bananas more than most of the other groups. This explains how determined they were to keep going and complete the task in record time. Jamie Huston even joined the team walking a mile or so with them to give them encouragement but not before he had to administer a bandage to a sore ankle – the only injury today.
The walkers bumped into a lovely lady when going through Cambridge, who wanted to have a chat so they invited her on to the support vehicle. She told the team how fantastic it was that they should take time out of the workplace to do something like this and support this worthy Charity. Many of the staff has experienced great support along the way, with horns blowing, people waving and people stopping staff to put money in the tins, not to mention the camaraderie amongst the staff which has been incredible, making this a most enjoyable experience for one and all.
Tomorrow George is joining the final stage of the historic marathon charity relay along with Alan Mealing, Regional Operations Manager and Mike Curthoys, Bristol branch manager and they will end the walk at the Meningitis Research Foundation headquarters in Thornbury, Bristol where the team will be met by friends of Meningitis Research Foundation. George will then fit the piece of glass to a replica mini van, just like his company mini van he started out with in 1971. So photos taken will grace the 40 year scrap book of memorabilia that George and the company have collected over time.
A tremendous well done to our walkers of day 1, 2 and 3 and to Martyn, Lee, Mark and Jamie for their fantastic efforts today and a big thank you to everyone for their support. Best of luck to George, Alan and Mike tomorrow.
Posted in Fundraising by Sue Switalski on 21 June 2011
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