Twelve intrepid employees got in the swim for the ‘Dolphin Dip Olympics’, held at the West Hants Lawn Tennis Club in Bournemouth, and raised £3,000 for the Starlight Foundation, which grants the wishes of seriously and terminally ill children all over the UK.
The event, which was supported by 25 Regency spectators, involved a series of fishy games such as the relay – where entrants had to swim through hoops while holding inflatable dolphins – water polo, and the ‘dolphin rescue’, which involved retrieving bottles from the bottom of the pool.
The swimmers raised around £1,500 in sponsorship during the event, which was doubled by Regency itself – and the final amount will more than pay for a trip to send eleven-year-old leukaemia sufferer Alex, from Worthing in West Sussex, to swim with dolphins in Florida.
Joint event organiser and marketing assistant Laura Tomei explained: “It was a great evening; everyone had fun, and one of the staff from the Starlight Foundation also came along to thank us, which was lovely.
“We particularly wanted to help Alex because living on the South coast, he is fairly close to us, and is still undergoing chemotherapy, so swimming with dolphins will be a wonderful way to help him forget his illness for a while, and concentrate on having fun with his family.
“Also, the charity helps 250,000 children across the UK every year, but it doesn’t receive any Government or Lottery funding – so it needs every penny it can get.”
Regency is extremely keen to support the local community, and its staff and managers regularly organise fundraising events for a variety of charities. Last year Regency raised £600 during a coffee morning for Macmillan Cancer Relief, plus £160 with a raffle for breast cancer research – and further events are planned for later this year.
Assistant underwriter Charlotte Skinner, who also organised the event, went on: “I think it’s important for businesses to donate money to charity, because if they don’t set a good example, the public won’t either – and it demonstrates that Regency is concerned about its local community, and not just interested in itself, as many companies are.
“We’re doing so many fundraising events that I’m now getting calls from charities asking us if we can help them! Unfortunately we can’t sponsor them all, but we’re doing our bit to give something back to society – and that’s really important to us.”
