On Thursday June 21 – Midsummer’s Day, no less – Gifts & Greetings Review publishers, Charlotte Cowell and Denre Bruins, joined around 30 industry colleagues and a fantastic support team for the 20th annual Cardgains Charity Challenge, which involved a 27 (plus!) mile hike across the glorious Lake District. Walkers were set the target of raising £12,000 for the Motor Neurone Disease Association, a charity close to the hearts of many participants.
Along with representatives from several Cardgains member suppliers, the walkers included a large contingent from the From The Heart shop in Maryport, one of whom was supporting a family member suffering from MND.
Blistered feet, aching knees and other trials of the way did not deter the intrepid team from taking as many selfies as possible to document our journey. The best of these was probably taken at the start of the walk while we were all still looking relatively fresh by Emotional Rescue joint MD, Chris Houfe (top), who maintained his hyperactive winning streak by charging across the finish line in first place with Alan Holmes from Icon Art and a pair of speedy Gonzalez chaps from Carte Blanche, Lee Wardell and Harry Robinson.
Walkers were helped enormously by hearty ration packs provided by lovely home fragrance specialist, Wax Lyrical, which ensured nobody went hungry on the seemingly endless road. Thank you Wax Lyrical!
Cardgains marketing director and fellow walker, Penny Shaw, said: “The weather couldn’t have been better – perhaps even a little hot at times. It was a welcome change from the typical Cardgains Charity Challenge weather of anything between drizzle and 
thunderstorms! I’m happy to report there were only a few minor walker casualties, and as we all know the major incident was the Lake District slate sabotaging one of the support vehicles! Luckily we were close to the Land Rover garage and it was soon fixed.
Another major issue was the sad demise of Richard Marsden’s trusty boots, which had to have major surgery en route as the photo shows! Says Richard: “It was a great day – loved it, especially the banter in the evening, it was all well deserved. To confirm – the boots were left in the Hotel and won’t make it next year, unlike the walker who will!”
Cardgains joint managing director, Chris Dyson, is pictured here with a magnificent celebratory cake made in honour of the 20th Cardgains challenge – Chris is the only person who’s done every walk to date and we’re willing to bet he’ll be the last man standing at future challenges, come hell or high water!
A big thank you to everyone who sponsored G&G Review or any of the other walkers, we are now very close to achieving our target. Anyone else wishing to donate to this very worthy cause still has time to do so via: https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/kumbayacumbria
