Farmers' cooperative on track to raise £10,000+ for charity in Three Peaks Challenge
A team from Suffolk-based AtlasFram Group, the UK’s foremost farmers’ co-operative, has raised almost £10,000 for charity this week by successfully completing the Three Peaks Challenge. A grueling test of endurance, it involves climbing the highest mountains in Scotland, England and Wales, and travelling more than 260 miles between them, within 24 hours.
The 11-strong team of Graham Aldrich, Tim Styles, Barry Howard, Ashley Gilman, Katya Wilkinson, Andrew Merton, Peter Waite, Tyrone Campbell-Twells, Abbie Lyon, Amy Peach, and Ed Thomson completed the challenge in just 23 hours and four minutes.
Praising his team’s achievement Richard Anscombe, AtlasFram Group’s Chief Executive, said:
“I am delighted for everyone who took part in the Three Peaks Challenge and with what they have achieved. We pride ourselves on being a very closely-knit, highly-motivated and professional team, working solely for the benefit of our farmer members throughout the UK. These qualities and same, selfless team spirit were evident throughout the months of preparation which went into completing this tough event. The training was intensive, the preparation exemplary and the camaraderie excellent. We are already planning our next challenge, which will be different but probably equally demanding and all in aid of good causes.”
Working to a carefully-scheduled itinerary which had been planned with military precision, the team left the AtlasFram office in Framlingham at 2pm on Friday and stopped overnight in Lancashire before pressing on to the West Coast of Scotland on Saturday morning. At 4.45pm they started out on the first stage of the challenge, the 10.5-mile walk to the 1343m summit of Ben Nevis and back down again, which was completed in five hours.
Driving through the night, the team reached Wasdale Head in Cumbria at 3.15am on Sunday and immediately began the 5.6-mile, 977m ascent of Scafell Pike, the climb and descent taking just four hours. Leaving Cumbria at 8am, the group then headed to the Pen-y-Pass in North Wales, starting the 6.5-mile climb of Mount Snowdon at lunchtime on Sunday and reaching the 1085m summit in two and a half hours.
Leaving North Wales at 5pm on Sunday the team arrived back in Framlingham at 11pm, having walked 22.6 miles, climbed 3405m and travelled 1342miles.
Having initially set out to raise £5000 for Cancer Research and the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution the AtlasFram team has almost doubled that figure, with donations from the cooperatives’ 1250 farmer Members, suppliers and friends totaling almost £10,000 and set to exceed that figure. Anyone who wishes to add to the total can do so by making a donation at www.justgiving.com/teams/atlasfram
Success in the Three Peaks Challenge comes just a week after the AtlasFram Group won the ‘Medium to Large Business’ category at the Anglian Business Awards, where judges praised the team’s excellent communications with its Members, business growth and investment in its staff.
Further details about AtlasFram Group are available at www.atlasfram.co.uk
Further press information from:
Julian Cooksley, Kendalls Communications
T: 01394 610022 E: julian.cooksley@kendallscom.co.uk
Digital images from:
Kerry-Anne Rookyard, Kendalls Communications
T: 01394 610022 E: kerry-anne.rookyard@kendallscom.co.uk
ABOUT THE ATLASFRAM GROUP
AtlasFram Group is a highly-successful farmer-owned cooperative with an annual turnover of £168 million. Based at Framlingham in Suffolk, it purchases all types of farm inputs and markets combinable crops on behalf of its 1250 Members, who collectively farm more than 300,000 hectares throughout the UK. The Group attracts professional arable and livestock farmers who recognise the value of belonging to a large, expertly-managed input purchasing and crop marketing business operated entirely on their behalf.
In addition to financial savings on a wide range of inputs, from fuel, fertiliser and ag-chem to workshop equipment, tyres, electricity, building materials, feed, animal health products and mobile ‘phones, AtlasFram Members benefit from access to a team of product specialists. Working solely in the best interests of Members, they provide expert advice on a wide range of farming-related issues, advise when to place orders to obtain the best discounts and ensure that products are delivered on time, to the right location. Members receive just one monthly invoice that shows all purchases, which further reduces the time and cost of administration.
Further details are available at www.atlasfram.co.uk
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