21st Of December by Sam Torr

The P&A Group, leading timber product manufacturer based in Mold, has raised over £20,000 for a cancer charity, clocking up over 5,000 miles in events in 2017.

The P&A Group spent 2017 fundraising for its chosen charity, Cancer Research UK.

A total of £21,370 was raised for the vital cause through a number of tough sporting events and challenges, totalling over 5,000 miles.

Against all odds, employees across the company from the Woodworks Garden Centre, Zest 4 Leisure, Fencing & Timber Buildings as well as the P&A Pallet manufacturing division went the extra mile and committed themselves to each and every event.

Louise Aubrey, Cancer Research UK’s Senior Local Fundraising Manager said: “P&A has put in so much hard work and commitment to raise money for us this year and we are extremely grateful that they chose Cancer Research UK as their charity for 2017.

“We can’t thank them enough for all their support and all employees should be so proud of what they have achieved.”

Running, swimming and cycling, employees have taken part in a variety of challenges, the latest of which saw 45 people complete the Flintshire 10k Run in October last year.

In addition to this, 23 people successfully completed the Chester Marathon and 25 employees did the Manchester Marathon.

Managing Director Steve Morgan and John Vaughan, Fencing & Timber Buildings Manager took on a 1,000 mile challenge of over 15 events, including four Ironmen long distance challenges, marathons, triathlons and cycling. Unfortunately Steve’s event was cut short after a fall in training in November after completing over 700 miles, but John continued to complete the whole 1,000 miles.

Also, nine employees committed to completing the ‘Walk All Over Cancer’ 10,000 steps a day challenge, stepping their way to over 1,350 miles whilst also raising money for CRUK.

The company supplied training sessions four times a week in their warehouse in Mold throughout the year, with all staff committing to working as a team to support each other.

Every year P&A gives its employees the opportunity to vote for a charity and last year Cancer Research was chosen by many staff, who along with close friends of the company have faced the impact of cancer in some way.

As a growing company, P&A is committed to employee fitness and long-term well-being as well as supporting the community and raising money for charity and demonstrates this through the number of events they arrange and totals that they keep donating.

Managing director at P&A Steve Morgan said: “Collectively, we’ve really pushed ourselves this year to raise money for Cancer Research UK. As a growing company, we are fully committed to employee fitness and long-term well-being as well as supporting the community and raising money for charity.

“I’m really proud of everyone who has taken part in the various events across the year. At times it has been an exhausting experience, but by focusing on our fundraising we found the strength to carry on whenever we hit a low point.”

Originally, the company set themselves a fundraising target of £10,000 for the charity, but after smashing the target early on in the year, the bar was raised to £20,000.

The Group beat its target of £20,000 thanks to the help of Ysgol Llywelyn and other participating schools in the Rhyl Community of Schools Triathlon who raised £3,000 for Cancer Research.

“Cancer Research UK has made enormous progress in the fight against cancer and continues to do so. However, we have only been able to do this thanks to the dedication and commitment of our volunteers and supporters without whom we would not be able to fund our vital research,” Louise added.

Previously, P&A has supported a number of charities including Hope House Hospice, Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, Alzheimer’s Society and Meningitis Now.