JPP Consulting prepare to take on the Yorkshire Three Peaks for Penny Brohn UK
On Saturday 8th June, a 50 strong team from JPP Consulting are planning to take on the Yorkshire Three Peaks challenge to raise money for Penny Brohn UK and Willen Hospice. We spoke with Associate Director, Tom Leatherland to find out why they’re taking on the 24-mile round-trip.
Why did you choose to support Penny Brohn UK?
We’ve always had a charity committee at work, and we’ve done a bit of fundraising here and there, but nothing major. Last June I lost one of my best friends, Jasmin James, to breast cancer. She had lived with it for 4 years, and had done a lot of fundraising throughout for both Penny Brohn UK and Willen Hospice.
I was speaking to her Mum at her funeral, and realised that this would be the first year that she wouldn’t be fundraising and I didn’t want her hard work to be lost. So when it was decided that we were undertaking this challenge I put forward both Penny Brohn UK and Willen Hospice as a way of raising money and awareness in her name.
Can you tell us a little bit about your upcoming challenge?
As weird as it sounds, I was almost ‘forced’ into undertaking the Three Peaks challenge. About a year before a client of ours was taking on the trek and asked JPP for some sponsorship. I spoke to the Director, and he agree to the sponsorship on the basis that I completed it myself!
I thought about doing it on my own, I love hiking and am always walking on the weekend whether it’s up mountains or just through the countryside. But I wanted something that would really make a statement and so put it out to the whole JPP team. We’re a team of about 100 strong overall so I thought if I could get 10-20 people to sign up it would make for a great team exercise. To date we’ve got about 47 taking part, with some joining all the way from our Poole office! If we can get everyone to complete the challenge and cross that finish line, it would be a huge accomplishment.
How are you finding training for the challenge?
So far we haven’t officially started the training, but with 5 months to go it’ll definitely be getting underway! We’ve been invited to do a 5km walk around the lake at Willen Hospice in April, and we’re in the process of planning a 12 mile trek as a team around the local area in Northamptonshire.
My own training’s been limited to golf round and playing sport so far!
What’s the most rewarding thing about supporting a charity in this way?
It’s so nice to know that I’m making a difference on Jasmin’s behalf, I’m not used to supporting charities – I’m normally the sponsor for a fundraiser, and don’t have any direct relationship with charities, so this was a really simple way to carry on that legacy. It’s also easy to get addicted to it very quickly. I find myself checking the fundraising page quite a lot already to see if we’ve got any new donations! I’ve already enjoyed the fundraising journey so far, and I think if we can hit £10,000, I would be very happy.
We’d like to thank Tom for sharing their experience. The words used are preferred by Tom. Penny Brohn UK encourages everyone to use their own words to tell their story. If you have any questions about any of the language used, please email comms@pennybrohn.org.uk.
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