Property experts to take on 200-mile paddle, pedal and foot powered trip for RNLI

Five intrepid property consultants will be tackling a 200-mile trip to raise money for the RNLI.

Neil Stubbs, Richard Channing, Josh Gunn, Matt Taylor and Tom Cunningham who work for South West property consultants, Vickery Holman, will be using paddle, pedal and foot power to make the journey.

The VH Charity Challenge team will kayak from Vickery Holman’s offices in Truro to Plymouth, then walk across the moors to the company’s Exeter office, before cycling back to Truro.

The team, who will be joined by colleagues Greg Oldrieve, Mike Oldrieve, Dennis Venn, Dylan Jones, Alan Treloar, Mark Pellow and Alex Sproson along the way, plan to complete the challenge in five and a half days.

The manpowered challenge was the idea of commercial property agent, Neil Stubbs, who is based in the company’s Truro office.

A recent participant of the Eden Project’s Green Foundation, Neil said: “Previous years Charity Challenges such as the Three Peaks have involved long car journeys, this year we thought it would be nice to do something which local people can relate to and which doesn’t involve adding to our carbon footprint any more than is necessary.

“Having the opportunity to undertake the VH Charity Challenge for the good of our community allows us to give something back to the environment that we live in, as well as getting our staff fired up about being part of a team that makes a difference.”

During the challenge, which will run from Thursday, June 21 to Tuesday, June 26, the team will be supported by Nicola Murrish, Kate Mills, Colinda Ford, Mike Jackson and Dan Cape.

The support team will be arranging events to welcome the challengers back and wave them on their way, as well as inviting members of the local community to get involved and help raise funds for the RNLI.

Area manager for the RNLI, Dave Nicoll, said:  “This is a fantastic idea and a real challenge for the team. We feel very privileged that they have chosen the RNLI as their beneficiary. The funds will go towards our vital work to save lives at sea.

“As a charity our lifeboat service receives no UK government funding so fundraising events like this are essential to ensure we can continue to save lives at sea.

“All of us in the RNLI are behind the team from Vickery Holman in this challenge that they have taken on and hope that the public will really get behind their fundraising efforts.”

A logo to commemorate the VH Charity Challenge has also been created by students from City College Plymouth.

To find out more about the challenge please contact Kate Mills on 01752 261811 and to sponsor the team please visit www.justgiving.com/VHCharityChallenge. Updates will be posted on the company’s Twitter feed – @VickeryHolman.