Leyland colleagues cover thousands of miles to raise funds for charity

Leyland Trucks DAF trucks — Staff and family at Leyland Trucks worked together to fundraise

A much needed ‘helping hand’ in the form of £1,000 has been donated to charity Rosemere Cancer Foundation by staff of Leyland Trucks.

Colleagues at the company joined forces with friends and family to spend the factory’s annual fortnight summer shutdown cycling, running and walking to achieve a collective target of 9,400 miles as part of fundraising for the company’s own Helping Hand charity.

‘Factory to Festival Miles Better Together’ featured a range of challenges that included a special running event, 100-mile triathlons, half and full marathons, a Leyland to Lytham cycling challenge, coast-to-coast cycling journeys, a 24-hour walking challenge and sprint sessions at CrossFit Leyland.

Members of Leyland Rotary also organised a sponsored walk, covering more than 300 miles, which raised £1,675 in support of Miles Better Together.

A socially distanced Leyland to Lytham cycle was one of many fundraising challenges making up Helping Hand's Miles Better Together initiative — A socially distanced Leyland to Lytham cycle was one of many fundraising challenges making up Helping Hand’s Miles Better Together initiative

A stand-out moment of the fortnight saw Leyland Trucks operations business unit manager, Ben Holloway, successfully pull a 7.5 tonne DAF LF truck for a total of 1.3km.

As well as Rosemere Cancer Foundation, St Catherine’s Hospice, The Ambulance Service Charity and other NHS frontline charities also received a share of the money raised.

Dan Hill, Rosemere Cancer Foundation’s chief officer, said: “We are immensely grateful to everyone who took part in the fundraising festival and to Helping Hand for including us among the charities benefitting from the event.

“Over the years, we have received great support from Leyland Trucks. Its donations to us now total over £30,000 and have been put towards a variety of great projects, which have benefitted hundreds and hundreds of cancer patients throughout Lancashire and South Cumbria.”

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Helping Hand chair, Phil Jones, said: “Every single mile covered meant so much to all those involved and at a time when local causes need our help more than ever, we were determined to rally together for the benefit of others.

“Rosemere Cancer Foundation was hand-selected as one of our charity partners for Miles Better Together to ensure we could give back to those that had worked so tirelessly to deliver vital frontline and care services throughout Covid-19.

“The work they do touches the lives of so many people, including the Leyland Trucks team, and the amount raised will make a fundamental difference.”

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