This weekend saw the annual Metro Rod conference at Celtic Manor Resort, Newport, Wales, which meant all the local business partners of offices from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland gathered together to catch up, network and see the sponsors and suppliers of our work. Metro Rod Oxford was attended by director Sue Caulfield and marketing manager Charlotte Fowles, and it was wonderful to see all the regional varieties of our fellow Metro Rod, Metro Plumb and now Willow Pump family all together under one roof.
However, nothing could prepare us for the shock of smashing our target for Harefield Hospital on Saturday evening!
Our year of fundraising has been going great over 2019. We held two separate fundraisers in local villages, involving bake sales, games and a raffle and between those events we exceeded our target of £1000! You can read about those events here and here. We also took part in the 38th annual Harefield Fun Run, which itself amassed a staggering £43,000, of which we raised a few hundred as a group of runners and walkers. Our reasonable target of £1000 has been met and surpassed already this year, however, this weekend we were absolutely blown away by the generosity of our fellow Metro Rod, Metro Plumb and Willow Pump friends and colleagues.
Each year our annual conference culminates in a dinner and award ceremony, where we take some time to relax with our fellow attendees, have some delicious food and applaud the best of the best for another year. Each year we also raise money for charity by way of donations from dinner goers; last year, for example, we raised money for MacMillan Cancer Nurses, which is an excellent cause. This year, as it's a decade since Sue's life saving double lung transplant and in line with our year of fundraising, we asked if it would be possible that the charity of the night would be Harefield Hospital and we were delighted that Metro Rod agreed.
On the night our managing director Peter Molloy addressed the room and explained the reason behind our charity and set a target that if we managed to raise £3000 on the night our executive chairman of Franchise Brands Stephen Hemsley would add an additional £1000 and Peter would visit one of our offices in the new year to work as a general assistant for the day. Apparently that was a pretty appealing prize and that along with the kindness and compassion of the evening's attendees, the total raised by table donations and pledges exceeded £7500! Already blown away by that figure, there was another surprise in store. Not only would Peter be working as a GA for two Metro Rod offices, but he was also excited to auction off the prize of getting Stephen Hemsley to work as an apprentice in the new year! This was a prize too good to resist and the bidding war was fierce and lengthly before Willow Pumps finally placed the winning bid of £4,500! We were very touched that Stephen Hemsley rounded up the figure to a neat £13,000 and a tearful Sue was presented this cheque by Peter and Stephen.
Sue said: "I am overwhelmed by the wonderful donations of everyone who attended the Metro Rod conference on Saturday. I had hoped to maybe double the figure we had already raised this year, but to raise £13,000 on the night was a figure I could never have imagined reaching. I cannot wait to present this money to Harefield Charity and it's thanks to the work of my team at Oxford, my supportive family who gave up weekends throughout the year to help fundraise and raise awareness and thanks to the people I've worked with at Metro Rod for 20 years. Thank you!"
If you want to learn more about Harefield Hospital or the charity you can go to their website or you can get in touch with us to learn more about our fundraising.
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