The challenge was for 7 members of Dawson Hart to run or walk 600km in June to raise money for Sussex Support Service.
By this time of the year we would have held our annual Easter Egg Hunt at the Uckfield Rugby Club, sold plenty of cake and bacon rolls at work and would be looking forward to participating in some organised events to raise money for our Charity of the Year.
But this is not a typical year. Since lockdown all our events had to be cancelled.
We wanted to do something to raise money to help Sussex Support Service and I had the idea of getting a group of us from work to participate in our own event. I wanted it to be inclusive and I did not want to restrict it to running, so the challenge was for us to run or walk during the month of June with the aim of covering a distance of 600km. The challenge could safely be done by us either from our homes or at work; together but alone.
Those who have taken part include representatives from the Private Client Department: Laura Manton, Director; Julie Binge, Chartered Legal Executive; Tracey Pugh, Legal Assistant, and Jessica Bennett, Legal Assistant.
Also involved have been Andrew Rannie, Director and Head of Property; Lochana Gabrielsen, Solicitor in the Commercial Property Department, and Lisa Ody, PA to the Managing Director.
We would like to thank everyone who have supported us and who have donated. Without your support we could not have done it. We have raised nearly £700. If you would still like to donate then it is not too late. Please just click on the link below
https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/sussexsupportservicecic
The team have excelled themselves and have covered an astonishing distance of just under 900km and I am delighted that everyone has enjoyed it too, mostly! I am very proud of the team with Jessica, Tracey, Andrew and Julie having achieved their personal bests in either distance or time and I feel it has brought us together in what has been a challenging time for everyone. Everyone has done this in addition to working and Jessica has even had legal practice exams as well which is an extra achievement!
We have all enjoyed the challenge, with early morning runs, dog walks and weekend hikes whilst enjoying the beautiful countryside where we live. I know it also helps us all to keep active. During these times we feel it is even more important that we support each other and it has been wonderful to be part of something with a common goal. We all logged our achievements by using apps like Map my Run and Strava and then reported back to the group on a Whatsapp group I created. The results were then logged by Tracey so we could keep an ongoing tally.
We have walked or run round the beautiful Lake Wood, Horsted Green Park, Bewl Water, Tilgate Park and South Downs Country Park to name but a few.
Sussex Support Service CIC provides day activities for older people in East Sussex living with dementia, Parkinson's and other extra care needs. Providing carer's with support, information and essential respite.
Now more than ever before is it vital they have additional funds to support their isolated service users and their carers during this challenging time. They don't know when they will be back in the centre together again but with additional funds they can continue to stay in touch and be ready to be open again in the future.
Margaret Dode-Angel from Sussex Support Service told Laura me today “We continue to keep in touch with our users and their carers over the phone. The money you have raised is going to help have everything in place to reopen safely. We are the hands of the government about when that could be. In the meantime, we are looking at how we could have some small group sessions outside and some 1-1 sessions outside, to provide carers with a short break and a change of scenery for our service users. This requires some careful planning.”
We will be doing more fundraising later in the year but what we do will depend on government guidelines and it is likely we will have to continue to be creative. Please let us know if you would like to support us with this in any way
Laura Manton, Director at Dawson Hart