Cadbury employees raise £5k for charity

Staff from Cadbury’s Bournville site have gone the extra length for charity by raising over £5000 for the Swimathon Foundation and Marie Curie Cancer Care.

Over twenty staff took part in the Swimathon event at Cadbury’s Linden Road Instruction Pool, with each team swimming 278 lengths to complete their five kilometre challenge. The money raised will go towards the Swimathon Foundation and Marie Curie Cancer Care, which offers free care and support to people suffering from terminal illness.

President of Cadbury Britain and Ireland, Trevor Bond led the medal presentation alongside  Andy Anstey, Director of Limelight Sports, the main organisers of Swimathon and Marie Curie nurse, Fran Hancox.

The Swimathon was organised by Michael Huggins, Community Sport Champion for Bournville, and comes as part of the company’s continued support for community and employee wellbeing.

Huggins said:
“Everyone who took part did more than I could ever expect and it was fantastic to see the Cadbury staff joining forces to raise money for charity. Our original fundraising target was £2,000. Thanks to my colleagues and the support we have received from the Swimathon Foundation we have been able to smash that figure, and raise a substantial amount of money for good causes.”

The Cadbury event comes ahead of a major Swimathon being held between 16-19 April 2009, which aims to encourage everyone in the UK to get in the pool and celebrate the 23rd year of the world’s biggest swimming fundraiser. Swimmers can challenge themselves to the ultimate 5K challenge, 2.5K for the intermediate swimmer or 1.5K for those who swim occasionally.

To find out more about Swimathon and to enter the 2009 challenge, visit www.swimathon.org.