The long road to fundraising
Published: 17 July, 2008
Fundraising has closed on an initiative to raise cash for air ambulance charities with the news that the target has been reached, raising more than £20,000. Spearheading the challenge was Karl Taylor, Workman Retail's manager at the Ryemarket shopping centre in Stourbridge.
Apart from his love of bikes and a desire to take to the open road at every opportunity, Karl, from Halesowen, was keen to encourage his scattered colleagues to work together for a single cause.
With that in mind, he embarked on the Full Throttle fundraiser, a mammoth journey visiting his colleagues at 17 shopping centres in England and Scotland in nine days. James Smart, services manager at The Foundry in Scunthorpe, volunteered to ride with Karl.
"The worst parts were the sore knees and thumbs; the pain was sometimes unbearable," says Karl. "We started in bright sunshine but as the first week wore on and we travelled north, the cold weather began to bite, and this, apart from the aches and pains, made it hard going. But there was no way we were going to give up.
"It's absolutely fantastic that we reached our target. Would I do it again? Certainly, but with a few amendments."
