Premier Inn employee takes on Scafell Pike
A local toddler is smiling ear-to-ear after her kind-hearted dad helped raise thousands of pounds to support some of the UK’s most seriously ill children.
Little Isla Fewtrell, aged two, inspired hotel manager dad, Mark Fewtrell’s fundraising efforts in aid of Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity (GOSH Charity), after a freak scalding accident almost cost her, her hand.
Isla accidentally put her hand into a cup of tea and scalded the skin on her hand when she was aged one, and she was treated by her local hospital, where she required several operations. Isla received treatment for her wound from her local hospital and wore a cast on her arm for several months.
Thankfully, Isla has fully recovered from her ordeal but dad Mark from Cannock, who has worked for Premier Inn for over 16 years, was inspired by his first-hand experiences of having a poorly child and decided to raise money for a cause that supports seriously ill children. He chose to donate the money he is raising to GOSH Charity.
His employer, Premier Inn, also supports GOSH Charity as part of a long-term corporate charity partnership, so along with colleagues throughout Shropshire Mark signed up to climb one of the three peaks, Scafell Pike, which is something none of them had ever done before. Despite having a new-born adding to his now family of five, Mark was determined to focus on weight loss and trained for weeks in order to prepare himself for the big day.
During the climb, there were points where Mark didn’t think he would be able to make it to the top, however he had pictures of his little girl in order to motivate him to keep going. Four hours and 10 minutes later they all reached the summit.
Mark said that this was one of his ‘biggest achievements ever’ and he was ‘extremely proud of his team members for completing this challenge and for the money they raised’.
He said: “I would like to motive people to do something similar, I’m pleased that Premier Inn have GOSH Charity as their chosen charity and the wonderful work they do is always motivating the team to do more. GOSH do some amazing things for poorly children and I’m so proud that our team has been able to raise funds for this brilliant cause.”
In total 162 team members took part in the three peak challenge, raising an incredible £14,000, which will go towards supporting seriously ill children from across the UK who are cared for at GOSH.
Managing Director Simon Ewins said: “I couldn’t be prouder of the team for raising such an incredible amount for GOSH and am never ceased to be blown away by their unwavering commitment to helping the cause”.
Premier Inn, the UK’s top-rated hotel chain*, has proudly been supporting Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity since 2012 and pledged to raise £7.5 million towards a brand-new medical facility at the hospital. The Premier Inn Clinical Building, which opened in January 2018, provides state of the art facilities including new in-patient wards, operating theatres and a day case unit, to match the hospital’s world-class care. Most recently, Premier Inn pledged to raise a further £10 million to help fund a new Sight and Sound Centre, a specialist outpatient centre tailored to the needs of children with sight and hearing loss, which is due to open in 2020.
Mark will also be looking to continue to raise money for GOSH Charity and his next challenge will be Snowdon which he will be doing with his son in October (date yet to be confirmed). If you would like to sponsor Mark, please visit his giving page: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/mark-fewtrell
