Twenty-two members of the XL Displays team battled gloomy weather and stiff competition at the Peterborough Dragon Boat Race on Saturday 8th June – all to raise money for our partner charity, Sue Ryder Thorpe Hall Hospice.
With the outstanding support from our family, friends and very generous suppliers, we managed to raise a huge £2900+ for the hospice, with more donations expected throughout this coming week.
The Dragon Boat Festival, organised by Gable Events, took place at the Peterborough Rowing Lake on Saturday 8th June.
Forty-five teams of local businesses from around Peterborough each took part in three heats to try and win a place in the finals.
Each heat required the teams to row 1200m. In order to win a place in the finals, each team’s two fastest times were combined.
We entered two teams: our all-girls team, the Nauty Oars, and our boys’ team, the Anchor Buoys.
Unfortunately, neither the Nauty Oars nor the Anchor Buoys made it through to the finals, but both teams did exceptionally well in their heats considering the damp weather.
The Anchor Buoys even came first in one of their races, but sadly their overall combined times didn’t get them a place in the finals. Nevertheless, it was great to see the team pull together in the name of charity.
The Nauty Oars managed to shave four seconds off each of their race times; meaning their final race was eight seconds faster than their first race which was a huge achievement.
Overall, the Anchor Buoys came 14th out of 35 and the Nauty Oars came 35th out of 45. Last year, the Anchor Buoys placed 8th out of 48 and the Nauty Oars came 45th.
Although the boys didn’t do quite as well this year, the girl's team made a tremendous effort to move up the leader board and did exceptionally well given the bad weather conditions.
Despite the wind and the rain, members of Team XL who were not taking part still came down to cheer us on, along with the family and friends of some of the rowers.
In between races we were kept watered and fed by Chef De La Maison who kindly donated 22 lunch bags to our rowers, and when we felt dampened by the dull weather, we were spurred on by all of our suppliers and friends who sponsored us.
We first partnered with Sue Ryder Thorpe Hall Hospice back in 2017 and since then have raised over £12,129 for them through various activities, including the Dragon Boat Festival back in 2018, various 5k runs and inflatable obstacle courses and a series of dress-down days.
The entire team did so well fundraising for the event and we can’t wait to see the impact the money we and everyone else who took part raised will have on the patients at Thorpe Hall Hospice. Here are just a few of the things the money will be spent on:
- Every £19 pays for one hour of our expert care
- £40 provides one complementary therapy session, such as massage, aromatherapy and reiki
- £60 provides one session of bereavement counselling
- Every £100 pays for a visit from a community nurse
- £500 pays for a bed for a day of inpatient care
- £3,000 is enough for a hospice nurse for a month
Thorpe Hall is the only specialist inpatient palliative care centre in Peterborough.
Not only do the nurses look after terminally ill patients with complex health needs and life-limiting conditions, but they also provide essential support for patient's families.
The care the hospice provides and the services it offers families is so important, but it comes at a cost.
The hospice has to raise £3.4 million per year - that's £9,000 a day - to keep running.
That makes partnerships like ours and the money we raise so much more important; but we couldn't make the difference we do without donations from our friends, family, team members and suppliers.
We would like to thank everyone who sponsored us, including Eurostand Displays, Eve Products, Spaceright, Sign Shapes, Ultima, XGLOO, Chef De La Maison, Promotor Displays, 4 Aluminium, Soyang, K H Accountancy, Key Financial Services, Monarch and Grafityp UK.
We expect to receive our final sponsorships throughout the coming week and hope to hit over £3000.
Overall, the event is expected to raise just over £30,000 when all the donations are in - which means Team XL will have managed to raise just under 10% of the total amount raised.
We would like to say a huge well done to all the teams who battled the wind and rain to take part, as well as Gable Events for organising the festival so well.
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