Brindleyplace helps Harry help others.
Brindleyplace has raised an incredible £66,000 in aid of Help Harry Help Others (HHHO) thanks to impressive fundraising from local businesses at the estate’s annual Dragonboat Festival.
This year, the charity boat race celebrated its 15th anniversary and saw 18 teams compete against each other in Chinese longboats on the canal at Brindleyplace. Each team was required to raise a minimum of £1,500 for HHHO through sponsorship. Impressively, Deutsche Bank – sponsors of the Dragonboat Festival for the last four years – raised £33,118 for the charity.
Overall £66,854.68 was donated to the ‘HelpCope’ strand of HHHO, which provides practical and financial support to families living with cancer. Lydia Ellis, marketing manager at Brindleyplace, said: “I want to thank everyone who took part in the races and those who donated so kindly this year. I’m thrilled to say this is the largest total we’ve ever raised at our annual Dragonboat Festival, surpassing last year’s figure of £48,000 and bringing the total amount raised to over £350,000 over the last 15 years! It was great to see the business community get involved and show their support for such a great cause. The money raised will go towards making a real difference to the lives of people in and around Birmingham.”
Following a competitive battle on the water the champion of the boat race was the West Midlands Fire Service team who managed to retain its winning title for the second year running. Additionally Deutsche Bank’s ‘Baskervillains’ won the prize for the Best Fancy Dress thanks to the team’s villainous outfits, beating other teams who were dressed as Vikings, Where’s Wally, Despicable Me Minions and fierce yellow dragons.
Georgie Moseley, chairman and founder of HHHO, said: “The money raised at this year’s Dragonboat Festival raised will be used to financially support families, helping with bills, everyday expenses and days out, allowing the family to focus on spending time together. It is the little things that people often forget about that families really need help with when coping with cancer and this will make a huge difference.”
HHHO was set up in memory of 11 year old Harry Moseley by his mother, Georgie, to help achieve all those goals he put in place whilst fundraising and raising awareness of cancer in the last years of his life. HHHO has three strands to the charity: HelpCure, HelpCope and HelpCare.
Richard McCarthy, managing director of Deutsche Bank Birmingham and sponsor of the Dragonboat Festival, said: “This is the fourth year we’ve sponsored the Dragonboat Festival and we are proud that each year our teams participate with such enthusiasm and commitment. To have helped raise so much money for a worthwhile charity is fantastic and we’d like to thank all our employees for their efforts.”
This year’s list of Dragonboat participants included: Deutsche Bank, Lloyds Banking Group, Haines Watts, Wyman Gordon, Moseley Round Table, Crimson, Barclays, Pertemps, Birmingham Publicity Association, DAC Beachcroft, Hozelock, West Midlands Fire Service, GVA, Hines Moorfield and Free Radio.
For more information about other charity events and upcoming summer activities happening at Brindleyplace visit www.brindleyplace.com