COLOUR DASH ‘FAMOUS FIVE’ RAISE £8,000 FOR NOOK APPEAL

Five members of staff from a Watton company have handed over more than £8,000 raised when they took part in last month’s Nook Colour Dash in Norwich – bringing the firm closer to its target of giving £25,000 to the appeal to build a new children’s hospice in Norfolk.

The Abel Group, which includes house builder Abel Homes and renewable energy company Abel Energy, kicked off its fundraising effort in February with a £10,000 donation – and pledged to raise a total of at least £25,000 for the EACH hospice over the coming months.

Five members of staff took part in the 5km Nook Colour Dash, which saw around 500 people running in Eaton Park in Norwich, while ‘Colour Pirates’ bombarded them with paint bombs.

Friends, clients and business partners sponsored the runners to the tune of just over £4,000, and The Abel Group has matched this sponsorship, bringing the total raised to over £8,000.

Marketing manager Natasha Goddard, who was one of the five who took part in the Dash, said, “It was a fun and colourful event, although for some of us running 5km is hard enough, without being paint-bombed! 

“We are extremely grateful to everyone who sponsored us, and helped us to raise such a huge amount – and to the company for matching the sponsorship pound for pound.”

Abel Group managing director Tony Abel added, “The new hospice will enable EACH to do so much more for local young people with life-threatening illnesses – and their families.  It is such a worthy, local cause, and we are delighted to throw our support behind it.

“When we made our initial donation of £10,000, we pledged that we would promote the appeal to staff, suppliers and customers, and by doing that we would raise a total of £25,000.  The Colour Dash team has helped bring the total up to £18,000, so we are well on the way to achieving that target.”

Commenting when The Abel Group announced its support, Gary Cook, the Nook appeal corporate fundraiser, said: “All at EACH would like to thank Tony and his team at Abel Group for their support – it really is appreciated.

“We won’t be able to realise our vision of a new purpose-built children’s hospice for Norfolk without the support of the whole Norfolk community – individuals, schools, community groups and of course businesses, so it’s great this family owned company wants to work with us to help other families within that community who need our support.

“EACH exists to care for local life-threatened children and young people and support their families and with the support of the fantastic Norfolk community we can help this process with the realisation of the Nook.”

Anyone who is interested in finding out more about the appeal or the nook business network, should contact the Norfolk Fundraising Team on 01603 666767 or funding@each.org.uk; for more information about the Abel Group visit www.abelhomes.co.uk or  www.abelenergy.co.uk.