Sional staff to make huge efforts to boost children’s hospices
SEVERAL hundred pounds was recently raised for a local charity through a joint effort by Gwynedd councillors Dilwyn Lloyd (Carmel and Y Fron), and Stephen Churchman (Dolbenmaen).
Through the sales of annual Christmas calendars in December, Dilwyn and Steve raised £400 for Wales Air Ambulance (WAA).
They said that local response to the calendars was great: “We were delighted to raise this amount for the Welsh Air Ambulance. Living up here in the mountains, where incidents happen in inaccessible areas with narrow winding roads, we are very aware of how the Wales Air Ambulance saves lives.”
Dilwyn said: “In my local area of Carmel and Y Fron, the WAA helicopters have flown in and managed to get people to hospital when every minute was critical. It’s
STAFF from a North Wales company are set to fling themselves from the sky and pound the streets of London to raise funds for a charity caring for seriously ill youngsters.
Tŷ Gobaith Children’s Hospice in the Conwy Valley and Hope House in Oswestry will benefit from the efforts of Anthony Jones, Jenny Wilson and Sioned Jones, who all work at Sional Promotional Merchandising.
Anthony has landed a muchcoveted place in the Virgin London Marathon, joining thousand of others on April 22, following in the footsteps of champion runners Daniel Wanjiru and Mary Keitany, who are returning to defend their titles.
On May 19 Jenny and Sioned will be taking to the air for a tandem sky-dive from 10,000ft, which will see them free-fall for 30 seconds while strapped to an expert, before their parachute opens above the Shropshire countryside.
The three, along with other colleagues at Llanfairfechanbased Sional - and even the local postmen - will also be walking to the summit of Wales’ highest peak on July 1 for the charity’s Snowdon Trek. an invaluable service, and I’m proud my colleagues and the local community responded so well to the fund raising.”
He added that some of the funding for the calendar’s design and printing came from the Local Liaison Fund provided by Caernarvonshire Crown Slate Quarries Company Limited (CCSQ).
Nick Smith, CCSQ director, said he was very pleased to have contributed to such a valuable local resource. “The fund is managed by the local liaison committee that meets twice a year. It is wonderful to see it being utilised as intended, and helping local communities with local projects and services.
Wales Air Ambulance relies solely on donations in order to operate, and each and every fundraising event is invaluable to making Wales Air Ambulance happen.
Anthony, from Deganwy, has already completed several running challenges after taking up the sport with his brother Nathan.
The 28-year-old, who is hoping to raise around £500, said: “My first proper race was the Great Northern Run in 2009, which I did for Spinal Injury Association, because of a family connection. I managed it in just over two hours.
“My personal best time was one hour 30 minutes with the Conwy half marathon. I’ve also done the Snowdonia marathon four times.
“Tŷ Gobaith is Sional’s charity of the year and we are headline sponsors of the Snowdon trek, providing all the T-shirts and other merchandise, so it seemed only right to fund raise for them with the London marathon. I’ll be wearing a Ty Gobaith t-shirt on the day.”
For Jenny, who looks after Sional’s embroidery machines, jumping from a plane, two miles high, on May 19 will be a dream come true.
The 39-year-old from Penmaenmawr will be fastened to an experienced sky-diver for the jump at Tilstock Airfield near Whitchurch, which promises astounding views on the way down.
Sioned, who co-founded the company 13 years ago with husband Alan, previously worked at Tŷ Gobaith as a nursing assistant, and the hospice retains a special place in her heart.
The charity is hoping to recruit around 300 walkers for the Snowdon trek to raise at least £30,000 towards its running costs - it needs £6.3 million every year to keep the two hospices open.
Each Snowdon Trek participant, who has to raise at least £100, will be wearing a t-shirt supplied by Sional for the ninemile walk along the Llanberis Trail. Experienced mountain guides will be along the route and at the check in points to ensure everybody stays safe.
Hope House and Tŷ Gobaith fund-raiser Amanda Jones said: “We are very grateful to everybody who raises funds for the hospices. We have organised a number of events such as the sky-dive and many people make us their nominated charity when they take part in runs and other sporting events.
“We are already seeing a lot of people signing up for the sky-dive and the Snowdon Trek, and the money they raise will help us keep providing much-needed support for families.”