Hastings Direct staff raised a record amount — £4,752 — for this year's BBC Children in Need appeal by cycling the virtual 1100 miles between their Bexhill head office and Gibraltar office.
Nearly 100 staff from all three of the company's offices located in Bexhill, Newmarket and Gibraltar took on the cycling challenge over three days and actually cycled 1209 virtual miles on static bikes — Bexhill staff completed 925 miles, Newmarket staff 160 miles and Gibraltar 124 miles.
This year's BBC Children in Need Appeal had four #BeAHero themes — baking, entertainment, fancy dress and challenge. Staff at Hastings Direct undertook challenge and fancy dress events. Led by CEO, Gary Hoffman dressed as Batman, many of the company's senior management dressed up and pedalled like mad to help the company reach the target. Staff also dressed up, sold cakes and held a raffle to raise money.
Picture shows from left to right: Mark Winterflood (Goldilocks), CEO Gary Hoffman (Batman), Ryan Preston (Robin).
Challenge organiser Mark Winterflood said: "This was a massive challenge as we needed to average about 37 miles an hour across the three days to reach our goal. I am so proud of my colleagues at Hastings Direct for not only achieving the challenge, but raising a record amount for Children in Need in one day. We hoped to raise £3,000 and thanks to all the generosity and support of our staff we absolutely smashed it.
This year's BBC Children in Need appeal televised on Friday November 14th raised a record breaking £32.6 million.