A property lettings
agency in Andover has run away with a national award in recognition of its
charity fund raising efforts for Macmillan Cancer Support.
Greg Greatbatch,
who owns the Belvoir office (along with brother-in-law Phil Pinkney) on Winchester Street in Andover was declared a
Charity Champion at the Belvoir annual ‘High Achievers’ award ceremony, staged
at the Belton Woods Hotel, near Grantham, Lincolnshire.
The Belvoir Bronze
Award recognises the contribution made by Greg and his colleague Emma Bevan who both completed a gruelling sponsored
race in support of Belvoir’s company-wide campaign to
raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support.
Greg explains: “We ran the 2012 BUPA London 10.6k in May last year,
which was on the same course the Olympic athletes used. Over
ten thousand people took part in the race with a number of famous runners
including Mo Farrah.
“Emma started training to get
fit for her wedding, which was in early June and I was recovering from physio
on my knees following an old cycling injury.
“The day of the race was
absolutely beautiful, but it was also the hottest day of the year and running
in a temperature of 26 degrees meant the heat was more of a challenge for us
than the actual course. We had to keep swerving across the road to try and find
some shade as relief from the heat.
“Our
donations were from a variety of people, including our landlords. We raised £687.20 for Macmillan, which was a
great result but unfortunately, we couldn’t beat Mo Farah who won in record
time!”
At the company’s
annual awards evening, co-presented by comedienne Ruby Wax, Belvoir’s Chairman,
Mike Goddard, said: ”Greg and his partner Phil Pinkney run their business with
a real commitment and passion for community involvement and this is a
tremendous achievement. The money raised through Greg and Emma’s gruelling run
has given a considerable boost to Belvoir’s commitment to Macmillan.
“In February 2011, we aligned ourselves
with Macmillan to raise £10,000, and in that first year I was pleased to
announce we had smashed our target and raised £16,000. This year I am delighted
that we increased our total raised to £25,013.67. What a fantastic achievement!”
On receiving the award Greg said: ”We are absolutely
delighted with this recognition. We
knew we had been shortlisted for an award and we were thrilled and excited just
to be nominated as finalists.
“We owe a lot to the many people who sponsored us to help us
smash the £500 target we had set ourselves!”
Tanya Taylor, a
fundraising manager for Macmillan, said: “Greg and his team have made a major
contribution to the overall sum raised by Belvoir over the past year.
“Thank you so much
– this money will make a real difference. One in three people will get a cancer
diagnosis at some point in their lives and there are currently two million
people living with cancer in the UK.
“We currently
support half of these people and every penny that you help to raise is greatly
appreciated by everyone at the charity.”
For more information about this and other awards, please visit our website www.belvoirandover.com/award.html