A team from Centrica Energy's Power business has completed a special cycling challenge in aid of the RNLI – the charity that saves lives at sea.
A team from Centrica Energy’s Power business has completed a special cycling challenge in aid of the RNLI – the charity that saves lives at sea.
Thirteen cyclists from Centrica’s renewables, gas and nuclear teams raised over £20,000 in sponsorship for the challenge, which saw the group travel over 210 miles from the company’s head office in Windsor to their renewables base in Grimsby last weekend.
The event was organised by the renewables team as a special thank you to the RNLI following the recovery of a crew member who fell ill while aboard one of the Lincs wind farm construction vessels earlier this year.
Simon Redfern, Head of Construction for Centrica Renewables, said: “The RNLI did an amazing job getting our contractor safely to shore and ensuring he got the medical attention he needed – something that simply wouldn’t have been possible without them.
“Sitting in a nice warm office it’s often easy to forget just how vulnerable our guys are when they’re working offshore. Knowing we’ve got an organisation like the RNLI on hand to help out should the worst happen is just priceless, so a couple of days in the saddle to raise much-needed funds really is the least we could do.”
On Sunday the team stopped off in Skegness to pay a visit to the RNLI team who had just arrived back from a training exercise.
Ray Chapman, volunteer Coxswain of the Skegness Lifeboat, said: “We don’t usually have a welcoming party waiting for us when the lifeboat gets back from an exercise, so it was great to see the team waiting for us at the station.
“As a charity, the RNLI relies on people and organisations undertaking fundraising activities like this cycle ride so, on behalf of everyone at Skegness lifeboat station, I’d like to thank the cycle team and everyone at Centrica Energy for their continued support.”
The challenge started at Centrica Energy’s head office in Windsor on Friday. From there the team pedalled their way up to the company’s Peterborough Power Station before heading to the coast to catch a glimpse of their three offshore wind farms, which are managed from the Centrica Energy Operations & Maintenance base in Grimsby.
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Emily Highmore-Talbot