Staff at Harrogate District Hospital have raised money for charity by walking, running and cycling the distance from Harrogate to Wellington in New Zealand.
They started the challenge in February and walked 22,866 kilometres by Easter, raising £1,600 in the process. That is £400 more than the original target.
45 staff from the pharmacy department took part. They all tracked how far they had ran, walked and cycled each week and added up the total.
The money will go to Harrogate Hospital and Community Charity. It supports staff, services and patients at Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust.
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Elizabeth Gill, pharmacy support worker and organiser, said:
“At a time when we are all stretched thin and covid has meant we can’t get together outside of work, we wanted to come together to challenge ourselves while raising money for our hospital charity.
“We decided to do the ultimate challenge and get to Wellington in New Zealand as this is the furthest capital from Harrogate and also a country which is covid-free!
“I’m so proud of everyone and how hard we’ve all worked. Our fundraising total is over £1600 which is incredible!”
Yvonne Campbell, head of charity and business development project manager, said:
“Everyone at Harrogate Hospital and Community Charity is blown away by the amount raised by our pharmacy team and the effort they’ve put in to supporting us.
“Recently, money raised by our supporters funded some portable DVD players for inpatients to use to watch films on while they’re in hospital, so the money they raise will go a long way to supporting services, patients and fellow colleagues at the trust.”
