Clearview National January 2019 - Issue 206 | Page 30

INDUSTRYNEWS
Where there’s hope
GM Fundraising has been raising money for
children’s charities with the support of the
fenestration industry for over 22 years. Made up
of a team of like-minded individuals, it organise
events such as gala dinners, golf events and
football tournaments, but what’s really put GM on
the map are the long-distance cycling challenges.
» » GM FUNDRAISING HAS
launched the 7th and final ride,
‘From Russia With Hope’, which
will be taking place in June
2019. Leading door security
and hardware supplier, Brisant
Secure is the headline sponsor
and Clearview hears from Nick
Dutton, Brisant’s CEO and
GM Fundraising’s founder Gary
Morton about the challenge and
their nominated charity, Hope
House Children’s Hospice.
GM Fundraising has been
around for a long time
and raised an impressive
amount of money, but
how did it all start?
GM: “In 1995 a colleague of
mine was looking to raise some
money for Zoe’s Place, a babies
hospice based in Liverpool,
and we decided to organise a
Gala Dinner. This first event
raised £16,755. It was great fun
and raising awareness of such a
worthwhile cause at the same time
really struck a chord with me.
To this day, we still host a Gala
Dinner every 18 months or so and
they just seem to get better and
better. Circus Beserkus, which
took place in June, was the 20th
one and it raised a phenomenal
£66,814.76. Over the years, we’ve
added other more challenging
activities to the mix, including
a five-side football tournament,
prestigious golf events and long-
distance cycle rides, the next and
last being ‘From Russia With
Hope’.” #FRWHope
Tell us more about ‘From
Russia With Hope’?
GM: “Taking place in June
2019, ‘From Russia With Hope’,
sponsored by Brisant Secure, will
see a cycling team ride through
10 countries in 12 days, ending
up at Hope House Children’s
Hospice, near Oswestry, the very
people we are fundraising for.
The total tally is 2,730 miles with
34,000 ft of climbing. The team
will be covering in excess of 280
miles each day as they cycle from
St Petersburg, Russia, through
Finland, into the Arctic Circle,
through Sweden, Denmark,
Germany, Holland, Belgium,
France, England and Wales,
before returning into England
and their final destination of
Hope House.”
30 » JAN 2019 » CL EARVI E W- UK . C O M
Nick, what made you
decide to support From
Russia With Hope?
ND: “To our mind GM
Fundraising is very much the
‘industry’s charity’ and we have
long supported their efforts to
raise money to support those less
fortunate than ourselves. For
this reason, earlier this year we
donated £5,000 to celebrate the
success of our 5,000-hour salt
water testing on our Sold Secure
accredited Lock Lock handle,
which is part of our new Sweet
door furniture range. This in
turn led to a conversation with
the team about the opportunity
to support ‘From Russia With
Hope’. We jumped at the chance
to support such an epic challenge,
particularly as it is the last one.
We are looking forward to
promoting this event together and
helping the team achieve their
fundraising targets.”
Why is this the last ride?
GM: “As you can imagine an
immense amount of work goes in
to organising these rides. ‘From
Russia With Hope’ is the 7th
and final major cycling challenge
for good reason: Aside from the
immense amount of work in
planning and executing these
rides, each time we must exceed
the last, both in challenge and
funds raised. That is no easy
task. We’ve started planning
this ride before the last one
(Border2Border in 2016) had
even started. But what we didn’t
plan for was ‘Paddle2Pedal’.
This was the first ever GM
Fundraising ladies only challenge
and combined two disciples –
canoeing and cycling. The girls
smashed it! Not only did they
double their original target,
but also opened our eyes to the
future of the GM Fundraising
challenges. So, while this last
traditional ‘cycling challenge’ as
we know it, we intend to go out
on a high. However, we are by
no means over when it comes
to setting epic challenges and
raising significant funds for Hope
House.”