A team from ILG, the fulfilment and delivery company based in East Grinstead, recently undertook a 29 mile walk in aid of Rockinghorse.
The company have been supporting Rockinghorse since the beginning of this year and decided to undertake a group challenge with 18 of their head office team taking part in a walk from their head office in East Grinstead to The Old Ship in Brighton.
Tom Ashley, the Managing Director of ILG explained more about their charity support: “At ILG we have always taken our work with local charities and our responsibility to the local community very seriously. For the last 10 years we have always appointed a “charity of the year” and we ask our staff to nominate the charities they think we should support and then a committee makes the final decision.
The ILG Team with their support vehicle, kindly provided by Diamond Couriers
“This year the case made by one of our team for Rockinghorse Children’s Charity was just so compelling, it was the obvious choice. Typically, we provide support through the year with various smaller fundraisers and fun days for our staff, and we then have one larger physical or endurance challenge which is the big fundraiser. We use this to engage with all staff, friends, family, customers and suppliers, and this year it was the “Road to Recovery”
Despite some of the group never having walked further than 6 miles previously, or having little experience of walking long distances, the group were determined to complete the challenge when they set off at 6am on Friday 7 October from their head office.
The group trekked along main roads along the route with a support vehicle behind them all the way. Tom said: “The day was kind, and the weather was good, only two of us had to stop through injury or soreness, but all others completed the walk. It took a total of 9 hours 30 minutes and I can honestly say when we got to the hotel a pint has never, ever tasted so good!
“For me, mile 20 was the hardest as we had to climb over Ditchling Beacon, but when we got to the top to see the Sussex Downs spread out before us and we were able to see the sea it made it all worthwhile.”
Despite being tired after their mammoth walk, the team were really pleased to have raised so much: “Thanks to some amazing generosity we have raised just over £5000.00 so in the end we did everything we set out to do. Thank you for the hospitality and warm welcome at The Ship – it was a great way to end the experience!”
Amanda Hetherington, Corporate Engagement Manager at Rockinghorse added: “We are so grateful to ILG UK who took on this amazing challenge to help support children and their families across Sussex.
“ILG have been incredible this year, holding a bake sale to support our 55th Anniversary Youth Worker campaign, Sustainability September, sponsors of our Glitter Ball for ’23 and providing prizes for events.
“We are looking forward to continuing our partnership for many years ahead and we love working with such a great team.”
If you’re company would like to choose Rockinghorse as your charity partner, just get in touch with Amanda. You can email her at amanda@rockinghorse.org.uk or call on: 01273 330044.
