Plymouth employees complete 434 mile charity walk
16 employees from the digital communications company EE's Plymouth contact centre have completed a remarkable 434 mile walk from North Tyneside to Plymouth in aid of the Devon Air Ambulance and Macmillan Cancer Support.
The 'Centre 2 Centre' walk began at EE's contact centre in North Tyneside at 12.00 on Friday 17 May and was completed 144 hours later back at their Plymouth base on Wednesday 22 May.
"We arrived 10 minutes early!" says Andy Joyce, the team's impressive leader.
For the former Royal Marines band corporal and, by day, Operations Manager for EE in Plymouth, the walk was the third in as many years. Alongside several other returning team members, some of whom had signed up "within an hour" of their colleague's call for volunteers; Andy embarked on the most ambitious route yet. This despite having sworn twice before, in the throes of exhaustion after each previous walk, that enough was enough.
Andy tells The Plymouth Daily that the team's first charity walk from Bristol to Plymouth in 2011 had been inspired by a colleague's diagnosis with leukemia and completed in aid of leukemia research. It took 42 hours and raised approximately three and a half thousand pounds.
Despite his initial determination to the contrary, last year he was off again, this time leading a team of 27 starting from the EE London office in Paddington and finishing again in Plymouth - a 221 mile journey which took 72 hours. Inspired by a friend who had served in Afghanistan, they raised money for the Royal Marines Charitable Trust and also for Jeremiah's Journey, the Plymouth EE team's chosen charity for that year.
The second, more ambitious challenge having been achieved, the team's feet had surely ached and blistered enough.
"I said "never again"", Andy admits. But when one of his fellow walkers was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, he knew they had to go one better in 2013.
This year's walk began in glorious sunshine in the north east, but by Friday the heavens had opened and the team had to endure torrential rain that even their wet weather gear could not withstand.
"We were soaked through and the softened skin was causing a lot of blisters" says Andy.
Stopping at a number of EE contact centres on route, the walk was gruelling, but their motivation never wavered. "Every single person hit the wall" says Andy, "but we all came through".
"I gave them a bit of a pep talk beforehand", Andy recalls. "I warned them that it would be painful and physically and mentally tough. But it is nothing compared with the pain of the people helped by the charities we support. Our pain will pass."
Andy stresses the crucial help received from local sponsors including Vospers who donated a minibus for the week; Enterprise Cars who have provided a car for each trip; and The Steak & Omelette restaurant in Plymouth who donated one pound for every dessert they sold.
Andy confirms that his colleague - the inspiration for this extraordinary fundraising adventure - has "come through" her ovarian cancer. He says they have already raised in excess of £6,000 for the Devon Air Ambulance and Macmillan Cancer Support and hopes this figure will rise significantly.
For now it is congratulations and a speedy recovery to the Centre 2 Centre walking heroes -
Amy Beaver, Tony Baxter, Pete Thompson, Ben Lisney, Kate Moore, Sue Crook, Nicole Bawden, Maurice Goldsworthy-Trapp, Tiffany Hale, Wills Porterfield, Sue Joyce, Jeanette Pattinson, Nick Full, Adam Roberts, Andrew Howell and Andy Joyce.
You can donate to the Centre 2 Centre team's charities via their fundraising page http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserProfilePage.action?userUrl=Centre2Centre2013&isTeam=true
Visit their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/centreto.centre?fref=ts%3E
Follow the team on Twitter: https://twitter.com/centretocentre
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