BW3 – Business Working With Wythenshawe – runs a series of programmes to inspire young people about careers and raise their aspirations.
In its first ever charity challenge, it pitted a range of organisations against each other in a timed truck pull.
Six teams went up against each other to pull an 18 tonne truck in the car park of Cardinal Global Logistics, one of BW3 cornerstone members.
A BW3 committee team took on rivals from Cardinal Global Logistics, the Wythenshawe Community Housing Group, Chiesi UK, Nabarro Poole and the Manchester Enterprise Academy, which is BW3’s high school of the year.
All teams were challenged to gather sponsorship before the event and, between them, more than £5000 has been raised.
The funds will mean BW3 is able to enhance the programmes it delivers free-of-charge to schools in the area. Those projects include mentoring and reading mentoring schemes, and a new initiative to take young people from Wythenshawe to visit arts organisations – called BW3 Experiences.
The event was supported by Wiggles Pizza, a local businesses, which made stone-baked pizzas for the participants. Thanks go to Cardinal Global Logistics for the use of their truck and driver.
BW3 chair Adam Jupp said: “This is our first full year with charitable status, and so it was great to be able to organise a inaugural fundraising activity. As well as raising funds that will help enhance the programmes we offer, it was brilliant to engage with our members and give the organisations we work with new ways to support our work.
“I’d like to thank all those involved in organising and taking part in the event, which was a huge success – we look forward to making it bigger and better next year.
“In many ways, the activity itself symbolised what we are all about – people from different backgrounds coming together to pull in the same direction, and achieve something they would not be able to do on their own. For us, that is about raising aspirations and improving life chances for young people in Wythenshawe and this great event will help us do even more of that in the year ahead.”
The winning team on the day was Chiesi UK, with the best average score when pulling the truck over 20m. WCHG had the fastest individual time, but Chiesi UK won over two attempts.