Huge thank ‘canoe’ to Rob and Tim for their fantastic challenge!
When Rob Frood from Barclays Bank became responsible for the accounts of Shooting Star Children’s Hospices and Woking & Sam Beare Hospice, he saw an opportunity to go above and beyond and take on a challenge to raise money for both charities. His colleague, Tim Sowry, got on board immediately and, no stranger to a canoe, having represented Team GB for 25 years, suggested they canoe from one hospice to the other!
“I was lucky enough to join my local canoe club at a young age,” says Tim. “And just by chance, it happened to be one of the best in the country. I was thrown into training with with the most talented paddlers without even realising it. I no longer canoe competitively so being able to use my experience for a challenge like this was great.”
Rob and Tim set off from the River Wey, right by our Guildford based hospice, Christopher’s at 8am on 20th August. Mindful of the scorching temperatures, the pair were pleasantly surprised with a cooler day under a shelter of cloud.
“I thought I’d have an easy ride given Tim’s experience,” says Rob. “But he worked me hard as we kept in sync. Tim sat at the back of the canoe so that he could steer us in the right direction. New to paddling myself, I’d built up my stamina by doing park runs and training on a rowing machine. I’d also done some weight training to improve my strength as rowing uses all kinds of muscles I never imagined.
“The total distance from hospice to hospice was 18.6 miles. As we set off down the River Wey, the current was in our favour which helped to push us along. When the river reached the M25 motorway, we hit the junction with the Basingstoke Canal and that’s where it got really tough. Due to the lack of rainfall this summer, the water levels were extremely low, and we had to battle our way through the vegetation, which was something we hadn’t anticipated. We were also surprised by the number of locks we had to navigate along the way. As there simply wasn’t enough water in the canal, the locks were out of use, and we had to literally climb out with the canoe at each one and get back in the other side.
“We had a support vehicle to meet us at a number of check points and our friend and colleague, Jacqui, cycled alongside us the whole way carrying a first aid kit and water supplies. We completed the challenge, arriving at the canal point parallel to Woking & Sam Beare Hospice just before 3pm.”
Tim and Rob raised an amazing £7,303 which included £2,000 match funding from Barclays and Gift Aid, which has been split equally between the two charity’s.
Bea Welch, Community Fundraiser at Shooting Star shared, “A huge congratulations to Tim and Rob for taking on this challenge in support of Shooting Star and Woking & Sam Beare Hospice. It was no mean feat, and we’re so grateful for the time, energy and determination they’ve put into supporting both charities. To bring people together in this way is really special, and we’d like to say a heartfelt thank you to them and everyone who has supported their fundraising.”
“We are so thankful to Tim and Rob for doing this for both us and Shooting Star,” says Chris Cupples, Income Generation Officer at Woking & Sam Beare Hospice. “The lovely thing about hospices is that we are so supportive of one another and keen to collaborate, so this challenge was the epitome of this.”
The money raised will go towards supporting local families receive vital hospice care.
Tim and Rob were overwhelmed by the support of everyone when they heard about their challenge. “Tim and I haven’t personally experienced hospice care,” says Rob. “But the number of people who donated to us because they knew of the amazing work that hospices do was incredible. We are already talking about what we can do next to support these two fantastic charities.”
Inspired by Tim and Rob? Why not take on a challenge! There are lots of ways you can support us and help local families in your area.
