Member Article

Hot-stepping duo banned from using lifts as part of charity challenge

Two employees from PH Media Group are set to climb a distance equal to 19 times Mount Everest as part of an unusual charity challenge.

Mark Williamson and Dan Lafferty are on course to raise £4,000 after being banned from using the lifts at their twelfth-floor Manchester headquarters and 20th-storey London office until the New Year. The feat, which began on July 1 and ends on December 31, will see the pair scale the equivalent of 70 kilometres in upwards climbs alone.

In 2012, Mark and Dan raised £1,500 by completing a charity stair climb at the company’s Oakland House base, scaling the building’s stairs 50 times in less than three hours – a total of 12,600 steps or seven times the Empire State Building.

“As our original stair-climbing task was a huge success, we knew we had to give ourselves an even tougher challenge and somehow take it up a notch,” said Williamson, Sales and Marketing Director at PH Media Group.

“If we use the lifts, we have to give £50 to the person who spotted us and another £50 to charity. Our colleagues are watching us like hawks and taking great pleasure in seeing us traipse up and down the stairs. Even the security teams have been briefed to look out for us!”

The activity is the latest in a series of fundraising initiatives on behalf of the company’s charity, PHMG Foundation, which is aiming to smash its fundraising target of £16,000 for 2014. The final total raised will then be matched by an equivalent sum by company’s board, doubling the amount given to good causes.

The PHMG Foundation supports a network of nine different charities and causes, including Action on Hearing Loss, Make a Wish Foundation and Parkinson’s UK. The total for this year currently stands at £12,000.

Lafferty, PH Media’s Director of Voice and Music, added: “Knowing this event is helping such good causes is keeping both us of motivated and determined to power through until December – even if our legs won’t thank us for it!”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by James Thornton .