On Thursday 18 May, a team of five Ryecroft Glenton staff took part in Marie Curie’s first ever Out of Office Challenge, along with teams from other North East businesses.
Kenny Johnsone, Fiona Hall, Michael Parry, Kimberley Maines and Matt English left the office for the day, to take part in the challenge to raise much needed funds for Marie Curie, who offer free hands-on care and vital emotional support to people living with terminal illnesses.
The day started by heading to Kingston Park Rugby Ground where teams were given details of wish list items and challenges to complete throughout the day, each of which would earn points. The wish list items ranged from raffle and auction prizes to gardening equipment for use in the Marie Curie North East hospice.
Each team were then asked to randomly select an envelope with the postcode of where they had to complete their tasks. Ryecroft Glenton selected Gosforth and Jesmond, with other locations including Gateshead and Newcastle and one group having to travel to Hexham!
Teams were then given half an hour to plan for the day before heading out to complete their challenges. Due to tremendous negotiating skills, determination and refusal to take no for an answer the Ryecroft Glenton team obtained several items including six-month gold membership at Jesmond Tennis Club (as well as badminton rackets and free venue hire), a Parklands Golf Day, a Newcastle United Sunday lunch, various hair salon vouchers, Newcastle Cricket Club free venue hire and two patio containers from Wyevale Garden Centre. As well as the fabulous raffle prizes, our team also managed to secure donations totalling £1,075 for this very worthy cause. We would like to thank everyone for their very generous donations.
After a hectic day of negotiating teams then returned to Kingston Park for points to be counted, with St Martins Care being the eventual winners.
Our team are looking forward to competing again next year!