At its meeting on July 8, the Archant Gold charitable committee decided to match the charitable donations from the endeavours of over 30 different staff. This brings the total number of applications since the scheme was launched in December 2000 to over 700.
Some of those whose charitable efforts were matched were:
• Adam Clarke, from Archant Publishing Services, along with two friends, dressed as the Blues Brothers and a nun to complete the Great Escape challenge for children’s charity Dreamflight. The charity had arranged for the son of a friend of Adam’s who has been a regular visitor to the Great Ormond Street Hospital, to go on a dream holiday to Florida.
The challenge was for one of the team to be dropped off penniless at a secret location and for the other two penniless colleagues to find him and complete a set of tasks at the same time. The nun had to be tracked down from Bedford to Leeds. The trio raised £965 for the charity Dreamflight and Archant matched one third which was £322.
• Welwyn & Hatfield Times editor Terry Mitchinson, from Archant Herts & Cambs, is a patron of Isabel Hospice and takes part in a 12-mile sponsored walk each year. This year, despite torrential rain throughout the entire event, Terry finished and raised £230. Terry also participated in a second 12-mile sponsored walk organised by two local rotary clubs and supported by the Welwyn & Hatfield Times. He raised £165 for the Willow Foundation which provides special days for seriously ill 16-40 year olds and which will stage its 10,000th special day this year.
• Archant London magazines advertising duo Mark Smith and Louise Hodgson, took part in Cancer Research UK’s Dryathlon by having no alcohol for the whole month of January. Mark raised £120 and Louise raised £123.
• Archant Life editor Paul Mackenzie, who works on a number of titles from the North division, spent three days completing an 80-mile sponsored walk along the Heart of England Way from Cannock Chase to Bourton on the Water. He raised £300 for St Luke's Hospice.
• The Sidmouth Herald Sharks from Archant South West, took part in a swimathon and completed 107 lengths between them in an hour to raise £316 for The Rotary Club of Sidmouth.
• Nick Gill, reporter on Archant Herts & Cambs weekly paper The Comet, began training for the marathon in October last year and was not deterred from completing three runs a week mainly in cold and snowy weather. In the build-up Nick ran a half-marathon and a 20 mile run but unfortunately on the day itself collapsed from heat exhaustion at 18 miles which was a real low point after so many highs. Despite this, Nick raised £1,232 for the Multiple Sclerosis Trust.
• Jayne Lindill, editor of Archant Suffolk’s Suffolk Magazine, raised £300 for the St Elizabeth's Hospice which had recently cared for her aunt in a very unusual way. Jayne completely shaved her head for a part in a play, Wit, in which she was portraying a woman with cancer. Jayne (pictured above with John Hood, the director of the play) decided to take the opportunity to raise some money for the local hospice at the same time.
• Archant Specialist imaging trio Adam Scorey, Lorna Dockerill and Jade Price, were among a team of 13 who went on to complete the Three Peaks Challenge of Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Mount Snowdon in just over 24 hours in Cancer Research UK’s National Three Peaks Challenge. The whole team raised £3,844.96 of which Archant Gold matched the trio’s share of £349.
• Archant Life’s Kerry Greenfield from the sales team at Worthing, along with her daughter walked from Worthing Pier to Brighton Pier, a total of 11.5 miles and raised £175 for St Barnabas House Hospice in memory of her father John Greenfield.
