Taking on the challenge!
Blueapple staff and their clients have recently undertaken several acts of charitable note which we feel are worthy of recognition.
Principal James Hamill took up road cycling in 2008 after a challenge set down by his local Round Table association to cycle the length of Ireland for the Chest, Heart and Stroke charity. James, decided to take on the challenge and felt it would be fun to involve the client base at Blueapple to aid in the fundraising. This was communicated to them via information in the client lounge and soon became a conversational topic in the practice. We managed to capture their imagination and raised £4,500 to contribute with the Enniskillen Round Table who handed a cheque over for £16,5000.
This trip gave James the cycling bug and following numerous enquiries from our clients as to when the next trip was James decided in June 2011 to cycle the famous route from John O Groats to Lands End. A trip of 1000 miles over 9 days it was a challenge he would never forget. Cycling with a dental colleague from Bristol, UK, James trained hard and managed to get the hours done in between work and family commitments. Support within the practice was active and the whole Blueapple family took to the challenge with gusto. Clients were excited and their best wishes kept James motivated to keep training and he secretly loved the comments about his weight loss!!
John O Groats to Lands End...
Feeling fit and ready he started his journey on the 10th June to Aberdeen by plane and then by bus to John O Groats, a remote starting point for the cycling challenge. Sleeping in a tent at night, eating too many jelly babies and fudge bars , James battled through the wind and poor weather to complete his average 110 miles per day. Travelling through some of the most scenic and unfortunately hilly country the UK has to offer brought James through a journey experiencing many highs and lows. Updates via his Facebook site allowed those interested to follow his trip and the encouraging comments kept him going. The highlight of the trip was the climb over the beautiful Glencoe in Scotland, simply stunning scenery reminded James of home and gave him that extra push to complete what was a gruelling day. The journey into Lands End was an adventure all by itself with a puncture, broken rear gear mechanism and a battered body all to be overcome before that feeling of glory and relief at the end.
Overall it was an exhilarating experience and one that brought the clients and staff of Blueapple together for a common good. In Blueapple we see a number of clients affected by MS as well as having extended personal family members affected. This left the team in no doubt that the choice of charity for this epic adventure was MS. Together the Blueapple client base raised a total of £7,000 for our local branch and we are very proud of our collective effort.
In terms of its affect on the practice it brought us some local coverage for a reason other that dentistry and it allowed our client base to see a different side to us as a team. To this day we are still talking about it and James wonders what the next challenge will bring.
Quality for All
Blueapple are very proud to be part of the Charitable trust Quality for All. The Trust was formed in 2010 with the aim of raising awareness and much needed financial support for local charities.
The Quality for all trust consists of a group of Private Dental practices joined with related businesses, giving monthly amounts to Charity. Each business donates a monthly amount into a charitable trust account which is then distributed to local charities just before Christmas every year.