Target smashed as staff pair complete 50k trek for rehab garden
More than £2,000 has been raised by two senior staff members at the Trust for the new rehabilitation garden at Hillingdon Hospital.
Chief operating officer Tina Benson and site manager Allison Jakeman both successfully completed a 50km route around Windsor on Saturday in aid of the project which is being run by the Hillingdon Hospitals Charity.
Tina and Allison's original target on their JustGiving page was £1,000 but that target has been well and truly smashed with around £2,500 now raised, which includes GiftAid donations.
"It's so lovely that people bothered to sponsor us," added Tina. "People were sponsoring us on the day. We were watching it and as we made a stop we noticed more and more had sponsored us.
"Even if people haven't sponsored us - and that's fine - just words of encouragement were really boosting."
The pair completed the route around Windsor in 11 and a half hours including breaks, or nine hours and 40 minutes without breaks.
"I was surprised because I was expecting my hips and knees to hurt but they didn't so in that sense it was easier than I thought it was going to be," said Tina. "But we did train a lot so I was quite pleased with how it went.
"The last 5km seemed to go on forever though, it was like an endless 5k. And when the sun started to set, although it was quite pretty, I just wanted it to finish."
Allison said: "I've done it (the 50km event) before but I found it harder this time. I strapped my feet up and I think that's what caused me to have massive blisters so I went in thinking I was really prepared but actually, by about 20km, my feet had gone."
The official launch of the garden, which will be primarily for long-stay patients on Alderbourne and Beaconsfield West wards as well as patients from the Stroke Unit, took place at the end of March.
"It's a real privilege, even though it was had work, to see we have contributed to the rehab garden"
Planting for the garden is due to take place on Thursday, May 2. Landscape designer Tom Stuart-Smith, who is overseeing the creation of the garden and whose former clients include the Royal Horticultural Society, the Royal Academy of Artis and Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, will be in attendance for the planting.
He was at Buckingham Palace this week to collect his OBE for services to landscape architecture.
If you want to donate to support the cause, you can still do so on the JustGiving page.
And what next for our intrepid fundraisers?
"We'll see how we recover from this one!" said Allison. "There is one (a 50km) at the end of the year around London which might be easier terrain than Windsor so we might try that one and see if we're broken after that, or ready to go a bit further.
"It's a real privilege, even though it was hard work, to see we have contributed to the rehab garden."