Fundraisers have helped to boost the funds of the Every Heart Matters appeal and push it towards its £500,000 target.
For cyclists from the Sudbury firm of Delphi collected over £1,600 from a charity ride across Germany and a series of tea dances held at the British Sugar Social Club, in Bury St Edmunds, resulted in £1,000 being handed over.
The bikers rode from Dusseldorf to the company’s site in Luxembourg, a total of 250 miles, raising £1,636.10 for the appeal.
Darren Theobald, the facility manager at the site in Newton Road, along with quality manager Rob Davies, and engineers Alex Lord, Mike Felton and Roger Dixey took a total of three days to complete the journey cycling 80 miles on the first day followed by 100 miles the second day and 70 miles on the final day.
They joined up with Delphi staff from sites all across Europe for the challenge and have now handed over their fundraising cash to the My WiSH charity which has been raising the money for a new cardiac diagnostic centre at the West Suffolk Hospital, in Bury St Edmunds, which was opened by jockey Frankie Dettori last week.
Darren said: “We had one or two punctures between us which is standard but it went really, really well.”
The 43-year-old said that the company supports charity fundraising and said they chose the appeal as his father was treated in the hospital’s cardiac department last year.
“He spent quite a lot of time at the West Suffolk Hospital and we felt it was only right that we raise the money for the appeal.
“He passed away last October. He needed a valve replacement but sadly never recovered from the operation so we decided that we would raise money for the hospital and we sat down and all agreed that it would be for the appeal,” said Darren.
Sally Daniels, My WiSH Charity appeal manager, said: “The guys did a great job cycling over 250 miles in just three days. We can’t thank them enough for their incredible donation. The cardiac centre is now open and it was great to be able to show Darren just how much he and his fellow team mates have helped the community of west Suffolk”.
Meanwhile, the tea dances, held on the second Sunday of the month, are organised by Peter and Jackie Fairweather who run sequence and line dancing sessions.
The money was raised for the appeal through raffles and attendance fees.
Jackie said: “We try to raise money each year for a different chosen charity and members get to vote for which one they would like the money donated to.
“The numbers who attend vary and we have had 60 to 70 people attend some sessions but on an average we have about 40 each month.
“Every year we ask people who they want to raise the money for and whoever has the biggest number we give to them and everyone has got something dear to them that they would want to raise the money for.
“It’s nice for us to donate to a local charity and the appeal is so relevant for our members who may need the care but will not have so far to travel for treatment.”
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