Cleanzine: your weekly cleaning and hygiene industry newsletter 18th April 2024 Issue no. 1110

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Vectair runner in London Marathon!

Have you ever thought about running 42 kilometres / 26 miles? Me neither, but at the young age of 53, Dave O'Donoghue, Export Manager at Vectair Systems, has taken on the challenge of running the London Marathon on April 21st.

Dave will be joined by his daughter Catie running her first ever marathon and between them they have decided to use the event to raise money for Newcastle Upon Tyne based charity COCO.

In 2008 Catie visited The Gambia where funds raised by her school were used to provide basic equipment such as exercise books, pens etc to schools in Banjul. She also has the opportunity to spend time with families in the local community. This visit inspired her to train as a Children's Nurse and she jumped at the chance when the opportunity came to raise funds for COCO.

When asked why they had selected this charity, Dave said: "During my time with Vectair Systems I have had the privilege to visit many countries around the world. In many of the developing nations I have seen what a huge difference the provision of good sanitation makes to people's lives.
"As a small charity COCO provides funding directly to local communities in some of the poorest areas of the world. These funds are used to enable children to receive free education beyond the age of 10, and to improve basic conditions in schools, including providing toilets!"

For most of us the closest we get to the London Marathon is watching it from the comfort of our favourite chair with a cup of tea and a bacon sandwich - it all looks pretty easy and good fun from there! "That's exactly what I thought, but the truth is that the training runs are tough," said Dave. Dragging yourself to run 10, 15 or 20 miles on not just one cold winter weekend morning but every weekend for four months sometimes makes me think we are completely mad!

"But the knowledge that with every £30 raised, a child can go to school for a year, or £100 will contribute towards building new classrooms, kitchen or toilets for a dilapidated school, helps to keep us going."

Dave and Catie are targeting to raise £5000 in the knowledge that every penny raised is carefully spent.

We leave you with a thank you from 11 year old Salome in Londoto, Tanzania: "Before COCO came to our school I used to learn under a tree. Now I have a classroom to learn in which is comfortable and this makes me happy."

If you would like to learn more about COCO visit: www.coco.org.uk

Or if you would like to make a donation visit: http://www.uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/coco2

T: 01256 319500
W: www.vectair.co.uk

14th March 2013