The Business Exchange Bath & Somerset Issue 12: Summer 2019 | Page 41

POSITIVE BUSINESS
New CEO for Citizens Advice
Bath and North East Somerset’s Citizens Advice
service has appointed Leslie Redwood as its
new Chief Executive Officer.
This year the charity is celebrating 80
years of providing free, confidential, high
quality, impartial advice to local residents
throughout the city and across the region.
Leslie Redwood said, “We operate in a
time of vastly increasing need across the
region and country. The challenges for
our charity around debt, housing, welfare,
employment, consumer and legal advice
are ever increasing against a background
of reduced ability for the local authority to
fund and support the service.
“The need is greater than ever to tell
our story in a much clearer way and to
secure more partnership and funding for
the charity, for the benefit of all of the
residents of B&NES.
“I call on businesses, residents, our
other partners and the local authority
to dig deep and provide whatever extra
funding and support they are able to, for
the benefit of the communities of B&NES
in the 80th year of our charity, and indeed
for many years to come.”
Outgoing Director Gill Whitehead
added, “It has been a privilege to work
with Citizens Advice in B&NES in a variety
of roles for over 12 years. My five years
as Director have been an interesting
time with many changes to the law, the
benefits system and the economic climate
which have affected local people and
particularly the most vulnerable amongst
them.
“As a local charity, our partnerships
with other organisations have developed
to put us in a stronger position to work
together to help local residents find a way
forward in difficult times. I’m confident
that Les will continue to provide great
leadership to our excellent team of staff
and volunteers through the challenging
times ahead.”
Gillian Whitehead and Leslie Redwood
“The need is greater than ever to tell our story
in a much clearer way and to secure more
partnership and funding for the charity, for the
benefit of all of the residents of B&NES.”
For more info:
www.citizensadvicebanes.org.uk
MILLIMETRES TO MOUNTAINS
Former Bath Rugby duo embark on fundraising venture
Following a catastrophic injury which threatened to leave him paralysed, an ex-Bath Rugby
player has set up an organisation to help others in similar circumstances.
Ed Jackson, alongside his former teammate, Olly
Barkley, has set up M2M, a not-for-profit company
offering an alternative approach to fundraising
through unique experiences and events.
Ed was severely injured in 2017 whilst diving into
a friend’s swimming pool, an accident in which he
hit his head so hard that he fractured his C6 and C7
vertebrae, shattered a disc and had to be resuscitated
on three occasions.
Shortly after the accident Ed was told he would
never walk again, but remarkably went on to defy
the medical prognosis and climbed to the summit
of Snowdon in a display of immense will and
determination.
Now he wants to use his life-changing experience
to help others and make a tangible difference to
charities through M2M.
M2M stands for millimetres to mountains,
a reference for the movement Ed fought for
immediately after the accident to the mountains he
now climbs.
The not-for-profit organisation is currently
committed to raising £250,000 for a spinal injury
rehabilitation centre in Chitwan, Nepal, a country that
is close to Ed’s heart after he visited with orthopaedic
charity, The Neverest Foundation, last year.
Having witnessed first-hand the bleak conditions
that paraplegics and quadriplegics face in one of
the world’s poorest countries, Ed vowed to make
a difference. Through M2M, he’s now encouraging
others to join him on imposing climbs in the
mountains to reach the fundraising target to build the
80-bed Chitwan hospital.
The first of these will see Ed climb Italy’s highest
independent peak, Gran Paradiso, on 15th June.
Later in the year he will head to the Himalayas for
an epic 18-day adventure to scale all 6,500m of Mera
Peak.
Places on both these once-in-a-lifetime trips
are on sale now and M2M will help to support all
participants’ individual fundraising efforts. M2M is
also offering corporate sponsorship packages for
these climbs, as well as the exceptional opportunity
to be given naming rights for the rehabilitation centre.
Closer to home, Olly and Ed will be launching the
first iteration of their pop-up restaurant/club concept
Lit in the centre of Bath.
It will comprise a high-end immersive and
interactive dining experience served to a live deep
house soundtrack under the darkness of candlelight.
All proceeds from this unique event will go towards
the fundraising target and tickets will be on sale via
the website: www.them2mgroup.com.
THE BUSINESS EXCHANGE 2019
41