In January, 37 Blakemore Retail colleagues took on the gruelling challenge of a spinathon to raise over £1,500 for the NSPCC.
The event was organised by Battlefield Store Manager Stacey Aitkin-Best and Sales Assistant Sara Chang, after recognising an excellent opportunity to bring colleagues together and support the NSPCC.
37 colleagues in total took on the challenge from Blakemore Retail SPAR stores Battlefield, Baschurch, Shawbirch, Broseley, Ludlow, Bishop’s Castle, Leominster, Presteigne and Westway, including Area Manager Donna Cooper and Retail Excellence Manager Dave Hammond.
Sara’s husband Vince is a spin instructor and volunteered to lead the two two-hour back-to-back spinathon sessions. He was also able to secure the venue at Xercise4less in Shrewsbury for free.
Colleagues cycled for up to four hours non-stop to raise over £1,500 for the children’s charity.
The company’s charitable trust, the Blakemore Foundation, provided support for the event in the form of bottled water and bananas to help fuel colleagues during their cycling.
Stacey commented: “The event was a massive success and everyone really enjoyed it, even those who were apprehensive at first.
“I think that doing events like this re-energises people to do more charity fundraising. It really doesn’t take much to get involved and get active for charity.
“It also shows the continued commitment of Blakemore Retail colleagues to raise money for the NSPCC and really push themselves out of their comfort zones to do things they wouldn’t normally do.”
Blakemore Retail Store Operations Director Chris Bacon added: “At the Blakemore Retail Managers Conference last June colleagues were challenged to raise a further £500k for the NSPCC before the next conference in 2019.
“It is evident with this most recent fundraiser that we are well on the way to hitting this target, adding a further £1,500+ to the grand total.”
Stacey added that she and Sara will be looking to organise further fundraising events over the coming months, including climbing Scafell Pike and Snowdon, as well as trekking to the Everest Base Camp to support the NSPCC.
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