XL Displays have raised a huge total of £3,019.53 for Sue Ryder Thorpe Hall Hospice after taking part in this year’s Dragon Boat Festival.
The Dragon Boat Festival is held annually and celebrated its 20th anniversary this year. Anyone can take part in the 200m boat race in order to help raise money for the hospice, but it is especially popular amongst local Peterborough businesses.
A total of 48 teams took part in the race this year and raised a collective total of over £32,000. This is the biggest the race has been in the last 10 years.
Our Donations
Thorpe Hall originally set a target of £20,000 for the race, and XL are proud to have been part of the tremendous effort to blow that target out of the water.
Internally we set ourselves a target of raising £3000 from this event. Although this was our biggest target to date, we were more determined than ever to reach it.
We're over the moon with the total money raised and we are even happier about all the things our money will go towards at the local hospice.
The £3,019.53 that Team XL raised will help to fund:
- 5x hospice nurses for one day
- 7x sets of patient medical supplies (needles, syringes etc.)
- 30x trinket boxes
- 10x nurses uniforms
- 11x bereavement counselling sessions
- 25 hours of hospice care
We partnered with Sue Ryder Thorpe Hall in 2017 and have raised over £8,300 for them so far.
The Boys Team - Anchor Buoys
We decided to enter two teams in the race (boys vs girls). The Anchor Buoys finished 12th and the Naughty Oars finished in 45th place.
The Anchor Buoys made it into the semi finals and finished 12th overall. Their fastest time was 74.84 seconds, which they achieved in their third heat.
The Girls Team - Naughty Oars
The Naughty Oars finished 45th out of 48 teams. Their fastest time was 81.44 seconds which they achieved in their third heat. This was a whole 12 seconds faster than their first heat which is something to be proud of!
Considering the vast majority of Team XL had no prior rowing experience, this is an extraordinary achievement.
The Naughty Oars were the only all-female team out of the 48 who entered, which is something we are extremely proud of given our director, Joanne Bass, is a keen advocate for women’s rights and equal representation.
We’re happy to report that no one capsized, and even though everyone was a bit achy the next day, it was well worth it because of how many people we have been able to help with our donations.
Not only was the event beneficial for the hospice, it was also great for ourselves and other businesses in terms of team building. The festival is designed to be a fun family day out and it gave our staff a chance to mingle with other employees and their families, therefore strengthening bonds within the office.
Team XL
As with every event, it is important to ensure your brand is highly visible. Our team XL campout featured a 3x4.5 pop-up gazebo and a promotional flag to ensure all team members knew where to come. It was the perfect spot for all team members, and their families to interact and have fun together.
A massive thank you to Chef De La Maison for donating 22 lunch bags for the whole team to enjoy, which was definitely needed after the morning races.
As with all our fundraising events we always don our very own team t-shirts. This is good for locating team members at the event but also so that our team is highly visible throughout the events. It is also important to us to ensure everyone knows that Sue Ryder Thorpe Hall Hospice is our charity partner which is why we always feature the Sue Ryder logo on the back of every team t-shirt.
Why We Support Sue Ryder
Sue Ryder Thorpe Hall Hospice is part of the larger Sue Ryder Group and provides care for terminally ill patients with a wide variety of illnesses.
It is the only specialist palliative inpatient care unit in the city of Peterborough, and many people within the city have close connections to the hospice.
It needs £9,000 per day – that’s £3.2 million every year – to keep providing the care that it does.
A number of staff here at XL Displays have personal connections to Thorpe Hall and that is why we decided to partner with the charity.
How We Raised So Much
It is through the generous sponsorships of our suppliers that we were able to raise such a substantial amount. We would like to thank:
- Papergraphics, Eurostand Display, Spaceright, Sign Shapes, Ultima, Sky Walk, Richard Haworth, Business Watch, Monarch, Promotor, Ready2Recruit, 4aluminium, JSS Electrical and K.H. Accountancy.
In order to raise as much money as possible, we hosted an internal raffle for staff and their families to take part in. All of the proceeds from the raffle ticket sales went to Sue Ryder Thorpe Hall Hospice.
We wouldn't have been able to have a raffle without the kind prize donations from local businesses.
We would like to thank:
-El' Esteem, RO Skin, Activity World, Sacrewell Farm, Orton Hall Hotel, The Moorhen, Twigs and Bows, Tramp2lean, Serentiy Loves and Fishtastic.
These businesses generously donated prizes for our raffle and helped us to raise so much money.
A massive thank you to all of the XL team and their families for raising a excellent amount of sponsorship.
To maximise our efforts for this event, we also hosted dress down days through May and June which helped raise even more money towards our £3k target.
We routinely fundraise for the hospice throughout the year, and have already taken part in the 5k Inflatable Run and Dragon Boat Race this year, raising over £4,000 in 2018 alone.
Team XL will continue to fundraise for Thorpe Hall and we are confident we can raise over £10,000 to date for the hospice this year.
At XL Displays we are experts in exhibition stand design and provide everything from custom exhibition stands to portable display solutions such as pop up stands, roller banners and promotional counters. For more information on Twist, or any of our products, contact us or call us on 01733 511030.
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