At St Oswald’s, we have a lot of incredible supporters who are willing to go the extra mile to raise money for us, but our friends at Grand Hotel Gosforth have taken that literally. The hotel’s onsite leisure centre decided they wanted to go head to head with each other and complete a new challenge, so what better way than a 5 hour row-a-thon.
A mixture of staff, customers and friends and family, took it in turns to row as far as they could on a stationary rowing machine for 15 minutes at a time. Two machines were set up at the main reception of the hotel opposite a lovely cake stall, which the hotel had put on the raise a more money for the team.
Grand Hotel Gosforth are part of St Oswald’s Business Club and saw this opportunity from the Leisure Centre to help to raise money for the Hospice. We caught up with Cat Pipitone, the Leisure Centre Manager to find out more:
“We love challenging ourselves as a team, we do something every year to keep up our competitiveness between us and this year we decided to do a row-a-thon. James, our Fitness Instructor and Jo, our Personal Trainer, were the masterminds behind everything. They had done a row-a-thon a few years ago and thought it was about time to bring it back. It’s funny but the more we suffer the more we enjoy, so it’s a great challenge for us!
“Originally, we just had it open for staff from the leisure centre and the hotel, we then opened it up to our members and were surprised how many signed up, over 15 of them in total. A few friends and family wanted to get involved too as it was only 15 minutes so our spaces were filling up quickly.
“We spoke to Jane, (Head of Sales & Events at The Grand Hotel Gosforth), she thought what we were doing was a great idea and decided to link in with St Oswald’s. It was her idea to hold a bake sale and put buckets around so people could donate all day through the challenge and beforehand.
“We’re supporting a great cause, we get to really challenge ourselves whilst doing an act of kindness. Sometimes you get into a robotic system of work, this way we get to do something we love, bond together and become a stronger unit. No one had to take part, but everyone was willing to do it. I’m so proud of my team, it’s incredible to plan something like this and they have done it amazingly.”
If you have been motivated by Grand Hotel Gosforth, why not complete you own challenge in aid of St Oswald’s? Don’t worry if you’re not sure where to start, our team have lots of challenges that we organise and put together. If this sounds a bit more manageable, then click the button below to check out our range of Life List challenges to take part in.
