What a day! Firstly may we just say a huge 'Thank-You' to everybody who took part. It was a fantastic day from start to finish and with a fabulous group of participants who despite enduring the longest of canal stretches, snapped chains after 1 mile, punctures with under 3 miles to go and 'that' hill at the end; everyone had a smile on their faces from start to finish. It was a day of achievements for pretty much everyone that took part, with competitors finishing before Olympic medallists alongside ex-patients of the hospital showing what they can do since they were here. There was a real feeling of unity amongst hospital staff members, families who had decided to do the challenge together and all the people who had come to welcome everyone back to Calderstones Park. The day had everything, the weather held out for us and 'most' people escaped without any treacherous tales of woe. Also, it was quite pleasant if you managed to get in between the police team and passer-by's looked at you like you were a celebrity getting a police escort. There is also a piece about Bike Unite on the Real Radio site showing how the presenters got on in the challenge. Real Radio offered fantastic support throughout the whole event and were great sports in taking part in the challenge, albeit with some on broken bikes! All events in their first year find it tough to establish themselves, however with the amount of effort people put in to rope in family, friends, work colleagues and companies putting their staff forward made sure that it was a great success; we really appreciate everything that you have done. A huge thank you to the SCEE, USS and Marks & Spencer in Aintree for showing their companies support through their participants. We have to give extra thanks to Hollands Pies for supplying the snacks to keep our energy levels up, Eminence Group for providing a massive Marquee free of charge to give our participants some shade, RockStar for the initial energy boost to get us on the go and Home to Office Watercoolers as well as vita-water for the refreshing end to the journey. Four of the UK's best-loved children's hospitals are joining forces with Oxfam to create a unique partnership that will collect clothes, books, music and homewares from people's houses and ensure that 100 per cent of the profits stay in the charity sector.
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The charitable arms of Alder Hey Children's Hospital, Birmingham Children's Hospital, Great Ormond Street Hospital and The Children's Hospital, Sheffield have all signed up to be part of Oxfam's new charity bag collection scheme.
The scheme will collect in areas close to the hospitals with the revenue raised from local supporters going directly to help their local children's hospital. Every bag of donated items will help these specialist children's hospitals provide vital research and equipment to help treat sick children in the UK and support Oxfam's work with people living in poverty around the world.
In the past hospitals have had to use commercial contractors to make the collections and sell the donated materials to generate money for them. By working with Oxfam's brand new house-to-house collection service, the hospitals are able to both increase the amount of money they raise per item donated and to assure people making donations that every penny of profit goes to charity.
The scheme supported by Britian's Got Talent judge Amanda Holden, said: "Oxfam's house-to-house collection scheme is one I support and really is the first of its kind to benefit charities 100%. It keeps the money raised in the charity sector, meaning however small or large your donation you can be sure that every last penny will go to a great cause. By simply donating your items, you will be helping to raise much-needed funds for Oxfam's work in the fight against poverty, whilst ensuring four of the UK's leading children's hospital can provide additional equipment and high quality medical research which really will make a difference to the lives of sick children."
Collection bags will be sent out to homes in areas connected to the hospitals four times a year for supporters to fill and Oxfam to collect and sort at their Wastesaver recycling plant before being sold to generate maximum value. Each hospital's collection will be in clearly marked bags and when it arrives at Oxfam it will be weighed and the relevant hospital will receive £75 per tonne.
David Vernon-Edwards, Director of The Children's Hospital Charity, speaking on behalf of the four children's hospitals, said:"We are all very excited to be working on this very innovative partnership with Oxfam. Fundraising is essential for all four hospitals as they continue to provide the best possible care for the UK's most seriously ill children. Just one bag of collected goods will go a long way to providing vital equipment and research for sick children."
David McCullough, Trading Director at Oxfam, said:
'This is a groundbreaking new scheme and allows people to have absolute confidence that 100 per cent of the profit from their donations is going to support good causes both in the UK and in the developing world. The hospitals get a better deal from items collected for them, and Oxfam is able to generate money to tackle poverty. It's a win-win.'
Look out for these collection bags in your area soon and help raise these much needed funds.
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