A 30ft Chinese Dragon Boat moored up at Addenbrooke’s Hospital on Wednesday, May 18 to celebrate the launch of the Cambridge Dragon Boat Festival.
The launch brought together festival participants S.O.P. International Limited, Addenbrooke’s staff and individuals from the Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust (ACT) team, aptly named ACTion Heroes.
The ACT team got into the spirit of the day and joined Jamie and Raf from S.O.P. International – team name Savage Old Pirates – donned in their festival attire and team t-shirts. The Savage Old Pirates team consists of 16 of S.O.P. International staff from across the organisation, many of whom have had personal experiences at Addenbrooke’s.
S.O.P. International are just one of twenty-one teams who have already signed up to take part in the festival. Other teams include Ridgeons, Kerio Technologies and Thomas Ridley Food Service. The event, taking place on Saturday, September 10th is open to everyone – businesses and groups – and over 40 crews are expected to battle it out over the 200m race course, watched by several hundred spectators. The Ditton Meadows location in Cambridge is a superb venue for racing and a fabulous day is guaranteed with plenty of bankside family entertainment including funfair rides, children’s activities, inflatables and Chinese lion dancing, plus bar and food stalls.
Addenbrooke’s is celebrating its 250th anniversary in 2016 and ACT is encouraging businesses to enter the festival in this momentous year and raise vital funds for the Addenbrooke’s 250 Appeal.
Carla Brown, ACT’s corporate fundraising manager says “We are inviting organisations to get their entries in quick and begin fundraising as soon as they can. Our team is raring to go already and with lots of interest from hospital teams we will certainly have plenty of friendly competition! We hope all teams will help us achieve our ambitious target of £15,000 in this special year!”
Café Rouge Cambridge will be awarding the top fundraising team with a voucher for a delicious three course meal at their recently refurbished restaurant in the centre of Cambridge.
Don’t delay, enter today at www.act4addenbrookes.org.uk/dragonboatfestival
For more information on corporate giving in support of Addenbrooke’s and the Rosie hospitals contact Carla Brown, corporate fundraising manager at ACT on 01223 348531 or carla.brown@act4addenbrookes.org.uk.