FRIENDS and family of a Redditch business who has left for a fundraising expedition to the North Pole gathered recently for a lunch to support his efforts and wish him well, writes Tom Martin.
Dean Attwell, chief executive and co-founder of Beoley-based storage and logistics company Oakland International, left for his adventure on Monday (April 10).
He is personally funded the trip and hopes to raise £100,000 for Cancer Research UK.
Before he left, Dean said: “I’ve reached my daily training target to build my cardio, overall strength and balance, which has involved over two hours of training each day including a couple of marathons each week.
“I am so grateful to everyone for supporting this lunch fundraiser and for all the donations I’ve already received.
My sincere thanks to the whole Oakland International team, our customers, suppliers and our partners, as it will be your support that gets me through.”
Dean is now braving days of ten-hour walks and temperatures potentially as cold as minus 45 degrees in extreme conditions over snow and ice, for up to 16 days.
“I still have a way to go to reach my £100,000 target, I’m not giving up as every pound will help to ensure Cancer Research UK reach their target of helping three-quarters of people affected by cancer survive the disease by 2034,” he added.
“Taking a conference call with the Polar Explorers team last week and speaking to some of the expedition team members made it all very real.”
Dean lost his mother-in-law to cancer in 2015. He said: “I wanted to do something to raise money for a cause which will almost certainly affect each and everyone of us, directly or indirectly, at some stage in the future”.
The Polar Explorer team are posting daily blogs, which you can find here.
You can also visit www.justgiving.com/fundraising/northpoledean to donate.
