Something for the weekend
Air ambulance boost from business bikers
Business leaders are set to lead off a charity ride out in aid of Midlands Air Ambulance next Sunday (26 June). They include Paul Griffin, head of employment law at DBS; Tom Fanning, chief executive of the M6 Toll operator Midland Expressway; Simon Turl, CEO of Roadchef; and Eric Le Corre, managing director of Michelin Tyre.
The four Midlands businessmen will join up to 1,000 fellow motorcycle enthusiasts for ‘Bike4Life’, an 80 mile massed ride out across the Midlands which kicks off at midday from Sixways Stadium, Worcester.
Also joining the ride-out are motorcycle paramedics from West Midlands Ambulance Service and the bike squad from West Mercia Police and West Midlands Fire Service.
This is the second year that friends Fanning and Turl have led the Bike4Life ride-out with Fanning riding a Triumph Bonneville America and Turl on his 1800cc Harley Davidson Screaming Eagle Ultra.
Bike4Life is free to enter but riders will be asked to make a voluntary donation to the Air Ambulance charity, which has set a target of raising £10,000 from the event.
Gimme for Shelter say DTZ fund raisers
Property consultancy DTZ has raised a total of £150,000 for homeless and housing charity Shelter during a two-year corporate charity partnership. Staff at the firm, including DTZ’s 250 strong workforce in Birmingham, raised the money through a range of events including an art auction at DTZ’s headquarters, cake sales and dress down days.
The money will go towards supporting Shelter’s work helping homeless and badly housed people across Britain find and keep a decent home.
Kate Pollard, head of corporate community and events at Shelter, said: "Over one million people come to Shelter for help and support every year and thanks to DTZ and its employees we are able to continue to provide this invaluable support."
Ain’t no mountain high enough for dads
Richard Carty, commercial director of Birmingham-based IT managed services business Netshield, was part of the ‘Yoxalldads4charity’ team that scaled the UK's three highest mountains to raise more than £14,000 for the charity for bereaved children, Winston's Wish.
The ten dads endured torrential rain, gale force winds, hail and snow showers, climbing the three peaks in the challenge - 1,344m Ben Nevis, 978m Scafell Pike and 1,085m Snowdon - in 23 hours and 32 minutes.
"It was an incredible challenge and the whole group were fantastically supportive of each other throughout the experience," says Richard
"Local weather reports revealed we were actually climbing Scafell in the worst May weather to hit the mountain in 100 years. Perhaps we didn't pick the best weekend to embark on the challenge, but we are all thrilled at having raised more than £14,000 for such a worthwhile charity, and the total is still rising."
