In total 162 of the company’s staff took part in the hike, which took them up and down Yorkshire’s largest hills Pen-y-ghent, Whernside and Ingleborough.
Greene King chose to support Macmillan in 2012 as the company’s first corporate charity partnership, with the aim of raising £1million over three years.
Employees from across all areas of the Greene King business – from managers and employees in pubs, to chefs at Loch Fyne Seafood & Grill restaurants, to head office employees and those working in the breweries – pulled on their walking boots and tackled the physical challenge for Macmillan.
Rooney Anand, chief executive officer of Greene King said, “I am very proud of the 162 employees that took part in the challenge, and achieving the hike is no mean feat. It is incredible that we have managed to raise over £43,000 and I know this puts us well on the way to reaching our target of £1million. Every climber should be proud to have helped ramp up our fundraising success over this weekend.”
Motivation
Many of the Greene King employees had personal reasons for doing the challenge. Tony Hodgson, who manages the properties within Greene King’s retail estate, has raised more than £3,000 and said: “I did the Three Peaks challenge to raise as much money as I could for Macmillan Cancer Support. They helped my family during my father’s terminal cancer and I wanted to give something back and say thank you.”
Rachel Gascoigne, partnership manager at Macmillan Cancer Support said, “Well done to every single Greene King employee who took on Yorkshire’s highest peaks for Macmillan. It was a breezy hike but you all overcame the conditions magnificently to raise a huge amount of money for people affected by cancer. Macmillan aims to ensure that no one faces cancer alone, and with your fantastic fundraising spirit, we’re closer to our goal.”
Following the hike, employees were entertained with live music by budding artist Nik Lowe. The Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge was part of Greene King’s latest fundraising drive, ‘Macmillan May’, which is taking place throughout this month. The business hopes this fundraiser will add over £100,000 to their fundraising total, before they begin preparing for Macmillan’s flagship fundraiser the World’s Biggest Coffee Morning later in September.