PETERBOROUGH: Roythornes Solicitors is one of the entrants set to do dragon-battle at this year’s Peterborough Dragon Boat Festival.
Roythornes is one of the largest law firms in the region and one of the top 200 in the UK. They were formed over 85 years ago and now have over 150 staff. We caught up with Mark Dodds, Marketing Manager, to find out what the company hopes to achieve from their entry this year: “We are a firm that believes in having a strong social side to our workplace and we encourage staff to get involved in all sorts of activities. We entered the Dragon Boat race last year for the first time with considerable success and so it was a certainty that we would enter again. Our team consisted of people from all departments and from all levels of the business so it was a great way to bring people together and help our already strong team spirit. We’re looking forward to another successful year for Roythornes Raiders!”
With teams coming from all corners of the region and representing so many different industries, the inter-company rivalry is definitely building! To date companies opting for the enhanced Gold and Silver entry packages which include marketing benefits as well as a significant donation to Festival charity, Sue Ryder – Thorpe Hall Hospice include Fitzwilliam Hospital, Froglife and Willis & Gambier (two teams). Other Festival entrants so far include Peterborough Telegraph, Roythornes Solicitors, PS Financials (2 teams), Webroster Limited, KDH Projects, MHA MacIntyre Hudson, City Resource Ltd, Ballast Phoenix Ltd, McIntyre Electrical Ltd, Ivan Gutierrez Family & Friends, Penny Bygrave Family and Friends, The Smile Boutique, The Falcon Inn, Anglian Water, Accent Nene Barhale Plc and Sue Ryder-Thorpe Hall Hospice.
As well as ‘slaying dragons’ and raising vital funds for Sue Ryder – Thorpe Hall Hospice, you can enjoy the variety of bankside entertainment on offer such as funfair rides, children’s activities, food stalls and a bar. Once again this year teams and spectators will also be able to enjoy a spectacular memorial flypast from a Lancaster bomber! The Avro Lancaster is a British four-engined Second World War heavy bomber designed and built by Avro for the Royal Air Force (RAF). It first saw active service with RAF Bomber Command in 1942 and, as the strategic bombing offensive over Europe gathered momentum, it became the main heavy bomber used by the RAF.
Hospices play a key role in providing support and end of life care and support to patients and their families. Shared bedrooms and bathrooms mean little privacy and dignity for patients Uneven floors and endless staircases making getting outside a real struggle. These issues and more will become a thing of the past in the new state-of-the-art Thorpe Hall. They aim to support patients and their families to live as well as they can for as long as they can and when the time comes; to support a dignified ending to their life. The doors of the new hospice are set to open this summer and funds raised by teams in the Dragon Boat Festival will be vital to help keep the project on track.
Thorpe Hall’s head of hospice fundraising Lucy Squance said: “We’re so grateful to all those teams who are pledging to support our appeal through the Dragon Boat Festival. It’s shaping up to be a great event already and it would be fabulous to see more teams jumping aboard.”
To take part in the dragon boat racing and help raise money for Sue Ryder – Thorpe Hall Hospice, no previous experience is required, just plenty of team spirit and enthusiasm! The dragon boats, qualified helms and all racing equipment are provided and each crew is guaranteed a minimum of three races.
