Savills Super Riders

A team of Bristol property agents from Savills used their pedal power to raise nearly £20,000 for Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Appeal. The fourteen employees at Savills Bristol office took part in a 280 mile charity bike ride from Lands End to Bristol to raise money for life-saving equipment for PICU – the pediatric intensive care unit at Bristol Children’s Hospital.

Fourteen employees took part in a 280 mile charity bike ride in September from Lands End to Bristol.
The three-day cycle ride was part of a fundraising challenge to raise money for the intensive care unit at the children’s hospital to buy a new baby life support machine to treat babies following open heart surgery.

The cycle seemed relatively painless on the first day but Saturday became more testing as the team faced the hills of Dartmoor. Many cyclists suffered from aching joints and sore knees during the intense fourteen-hour ordeal.

Andrew Cox, associate of the Savills Bristol office, got sunburn across his exposed backside after failing to notice the very low waistline of his cycling shorts resulting in a rather uncomfortable finish to the event!! Team leader James Greenland also had a stroke of bad luck by getting three punctures in the final few hours of the last day of ride.

Richard Rees, head of Savills’ Bristol office said: ”We were inspired to take part in the cycle challenge by the doctors at PICU. It was great fun and a good team building exercise for a very deserving cause. Training was tough and for a few days after the cycle ride we conducted our meetings standing up, but it’s all been worth it.”

Savills have smashed their original ambitious £10,000 target and raised nearly £20,000 which will be boosted by a further £3,500 raised by a team of consultants at the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) at Bristol Children’s hospital, who cycled the full 950 mile end-to-end cycle ride from Lands End to John O’ Groats to raise money for the ward.

Laura Densem, fundraising manager at the Grand Appeal added: “We want to say a huge thank you to Savills for all their support. Such a large donation will enable the purchase of new equipment that will make a real difference to the ward and help save babies’ lives.”

For more information on Team Challenges please contact Sarah Vipond at sarah@grandappeal.org.uk