Publication Date: 15-07-2024 09:00
Bellway colleagues tackle triple challenge to raise funds for CRUK
Two Bellway colleagues teamed up to take on a hat-trick of running challenges and raised more than £11,000 for a national charity.
Amber Britton-Dyer and Ashleigh Nithsdale took on the Newcastle Pretty Muddy 5K, the Great North Run and the London Marathon in aid of Cancer Research UK – Bellway’s chosen charity partner.
Ashleigh, Group Sales Product Co-ordinator, and Amber, Group Marketing Co-ordinator, raised £3,826, which was double matched by Bellway, boosting the total handed over to the CRUK to £11,478.60
The colleagues, who are both 30 and both live in Northumberland, tackled the Newcastle Pretty Muddy 5K in July 2023, the Great North Run in September 2023 and the London Marathon in April 2024.
Since the partnership with Cancer Research UK started in 2016, employees at the housebuilder have dedicated their fundraising efforts to the cause. Bellway is committed to charitable giving through its Better with Bellway sustainability strategy and has now raised £3.59m for CRUK, aiming to hit a target of £4 million by the end of 2024.
Amber, who is a member of Newburn Running Club, said: “I wanted to raise money in memory of my grandfather who passed away in 2013 after contracting prostate cancer. Ashleigh and myself are involved in organising fundraising events at the Bellway head office in Newcastle where we work and we thought it would good idea to tackle all three events.
“The challenges were very different – the muddy 5K was fun, the Great North Run was a fabulous occasion for the city of Newcastle, while the London Marathon was exhilarating with me finishing in a very respectable time of three hours 27 minutes and 46 seconds, which was 18 minutes quicker than my first marathon two years earlier.
“I am very proud to be working for Bellway which has made a wonderful commitment to CRUK. All 21 divisions and us at head office are involved in the campaign which is called ‘4 in 24’, with the slogan ‘Giving to build better lives’.
“The day after the London Marathon, Ashleigh and I took our medals into the office to show our colleagues, who were suitably impressed.”
Ashleigh said she felt compelled to take on the triple challenge in tribute to family and friends who have been affected by cancer.
She said: “This is a terrible disease and most people these days know someone who has had their life blighted by cancer. It is good to know that as well as helping to organise events for other people, Amber and I have taken on challenges and raised money ourselves.
“I am proud that I finished the London Marathon – my first-ever marathon – but even prouder that we are helping to support a charity that makes such a difference to people’s lives and is trying to find a cure for cancer.”
Ashleigh has signed up to run the Paris Marathon in 2025 in aid of CRUK. Amber is to run the Great North Run again later this year for the charity and has applied for a place in the 2025 London Marathon to raise more funds.
For more information about Bellway’s fundraising, visit https://sustainability.bellwayplc.co.uk/.
