Charity: Director raises £1,500 cycling length of UK; Charity supports Leeds medical students researching cardiovascular disease; and more

A DIRECTOR at Barratt Developments Yorkshire West jumped in the saddle and cycled the length of the UK over nine days, raising £1,500 for a local charity.

The cycle saw Barratt Developments’ technical director Dave Hudson pedal 1,000 miles from Lands’ End to John O’Groats in aid of Yorkshire’s St Gemma’s Hospice.

His cycle follows on from a 2015 ride that saw him travel over 300 miles from London to Paris, contributing to raising £40,000 for the Endeavour charity as part of a 45 strong peloton.

Mr Hudson, based at Barratt Yorkshire West’s head office in Morley, Leeds, said: “St Gemma’s Hospice is a hugely worthy charity, and after a gruelling training schedule I’m so pleased to have finally completed the journey and would like to thank all those who supported the cycle, helping us raise £1,500. The ride was the biggest challenge of my life and was a great follow on from the London to Paris cycle we completed last year, raising a huge total for charity in the process.”

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TWO Leeds medical students are researching new ways of treating cardiovascular disease thanks to a grant from Yorkshire-based national charity Heart Research UK.

The charity, which encourages the researchers of the future, is providing £30,000 to fund two second-year University of Leeds students on the first rung of the research ladder.

The two EXSEL programme scholarships allow the students to research aspects of medicine that are linked with heart disease, which could help towards finding new treatments in the future.

This year’s students are Will Stevens from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Eleanor Price from Lancaster.

Both research projects began this summer and the students plan to continue them throughout the rest of their studies, working alongside their research supervisors as they make further progress.  

Barbara Harpham, national director of Heart Research UK, said:  “We want to encourage the experts of tomorrow, and these unique EXSEL scholarships offer opportunities to learn in national and international centres of excellence.

“Over the past 10 years we have supported 18 of these scholarships with the University of Leeds and been delighted with the high standard of research that could lead to advances in the prevention, treatment and cure of heart disease.  We hope Eleanor and Will benefit from being involved with their projects.”

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TWO companies backed by Palatine Private Equity have joined forces to help transform the children’s heart surgery ward at Leeds General Infirmary.

Leeds-based holiday price comparison site icelolly.com has teamed up with bedding specialist Character World to provide 60 sets of bedding to the children’s ward at the Yorkshire-based hospital. Character World makes bedding, curtains and other goods featuring brands such as Lucasfilm, Marvel and Disney.

Over the last 12 months, icelolly.com has dedicated the majority of its fundraising efforts to the Children’s Heart Surgery Fund, the organisation that supports the heart unit at Leeds General Infirmary. This includes regular fundraising events for staff to get involved with such as bake sales, cocktail afternoons, quizzes and team games.

Andrew Latham, CEO of icelolly.com, said: “We have been avid supporters of the Heart Surgery Fund and have seen first-hand the extraordinary care that is provided to children and their families during really difficult times. We are very grateful to our friends at Character World as the new bedspreads have completely transformed the ward with some of the children’s best-loved cartoon characters.”

Andy Lees, partner at Palatine Private Equity, said: “As a responsible investor, we place great emphasis on environmental, social and governance issues, so it is fantastic that two of our portfolio companies are collaborating to get behind such a worthy cause. We are always looking at ways to give back to the local community and the generosity from the team at Character World will certainly have a positive impact on the kids.”

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SHOPPERS in Bradford dug deep for charity, raising cash for Bradford Hospitals Children’s Charity at The Broadway Shopping Centre.

Budding artists made donations before decorating acrylic star ornaments, as the centre celebrated a festival of light and colour, raising £350 for The Broadway’s partner charity.

The shopping centre team were determined to ensure that the children of Bradford Hospital did not miss out on the fun, and sent them a package of stars by special delivery so they could decorate the ornaments while receiving treatment.
 
Shoppers at The Broadway were treated to a whole weekend of entertainment, with an array of fun, family-focussed pop-ups throughout the mall.  They were encouraged to create their own festival accessories on stalls including ‘make your own friendship bracelet’ and ‘design your own lantern’, as well as a henna masterclass which took place every hour.

Dancers and local groups also performed for shoppers throughout the centre.
Ian Ward, general manager of The Broadway, said: “The Broadway sits at the heart of Bradford, and we wanted to celebrate that fact by holding events to the community together and raise funds for our charity partner, Bradford Hospitals Children’s Charity. The work that BHCC Charity does is invaluable and we’re very proud to have been able to contribute towards it.”