Spire Harpenden Hospital is proud to be taking part in a company-wide fundraising challenge from Sunday 23 - Sunday 30 June 2019 to raise money for THET and The OLLIE Foundation. You can read more about the excellent work they both do below. 

Across our 39 hospitals and each of our support sites, we will be raising money for THET who is an international charity that helps provide healthcare access and workers in developing countries, as well as local causes in each of our communities.

Throughout the week our colleagues will be taking part in our charity challenge as we aim to cover 40,000km between us. As part of this, a team of colleagues including our CEO Justin Ash and CFO Jitesh Sodha will be riding a gruelling 333km from our office in central London to our hospital in Bristol all in one day. On their way they will stop at our St Anthony's, Gatwick Park, Portsmouth and Southampton hospitals.

David Gordon has been a Consultant Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Surgeon at Spire Harpenden for 7 years and while he’s a regular recreational cyclist, covering over 200 miles will be double the distance he has previously ever ridden in one day.  ‘I’m extremely excited to be part of this big cycling challenge.  Over 15 hours in the saddle will not be easy but with everyone’s support and generous donations, it will be worth the suffering!’

They will be joined by Mark Beaumont, the world-renowned athlete, broadcaster and ambassador. We’re hoping that Mark Beaumont’s grit and experience, having tackled multiple worldwide cycle challenges, will rub off on the team and help push them on at their toughest points. Two years ago, Mark smashed the world record for cycling the 18,000-mile route around the world in 79 days, knocking 44 days off the existing record. To say the team is excited about riding with Mark would be an
understatement – it’s an absolute privilege.

As well as cycling, some of our colleagues will be walking and running to clock up those all-important kms as we challenge each site to cover 1,000km! If each of our hospitals and support sites manages this, it means we will have covered the equivalent of one lap around the world between us!

At Spire Harpenden we will be participating in a static bike challenge and a big group cycle around Hertfordshire to try and raise as much money as possible. 

Thank you for taking the time to read our page. We are extremely grateful for all donations which will help to make a positive difference both locally and internationally.

Read more about the work our charities do:

THET works to create a world where everyone, everywhere, has access to healthcare, and they achieve this by training and educating health workers in low and middle-income countries in partnership with volunteers from across the UK health community. To give you an idea of how far our money can go just £150 could fund a day of sexual and reproductive health training for rural health workers and teachers
in South West Uganda, empowering communities, and especially young people, with vital family planning guidance. £2,000 could fund 30 days of stroke diagnosis, treatment and care training to nurses and physiotherapists in Ethiopia, helping to reduce the morbidity and mortality of stroke, particularly in remote areas. As a company we believe it is important to help enable access to healthcare for
those in need in developing countries. We are also proud to support causes that are important to the communities that we serve.

David and Spire Harpenden have chosen to donate 50% of our fund raising to The Ollie Foundation. In society today, there are very few people who have not been touched by suicide. Our hospital team at Harpenden wish to personally recognise this local charity. The Ollie Foundation is a local St Albans Charity whose mission is simple: to stop young people from taking their own lives. OLLIE delivers training in suicide awareness, prevention and intervention to communities in Hertfordshire. They train all sorts of people including parents, teachers,
health professionals, sports coaches, youth club leaders and young people themselves.