BNI group provides help for charity challenge

A personal trainer from Lancaster and one of his clients have jointly raised nearly £7,000 for charity, with the help of members of Lancaster business group BNI Castle.

Ben Clifton of Prosperity Health & Fitness and his client Richard Halstead, a sales manager for Konica Minolta Business Solutions, raised the total of £6,747 for North West Cancer Research by completing the National Three Peaks, the Yorkshire Three Peaks and the Welsh Three Peaks, all within 48 hours.

Starting with Ben Nevis on a Friday evening and ending with Snowdon, 46 hours and 14 minutes later, the pair were supported in their challenge by members of BNI Castle, of which Ben Clifton is a member and whose nominated charity is North West Cancer Research, which is also a member of the same group.

Presenting a cheque for the amount raised on behalf of the duo to Charlotte Ellwood, North West Cancer Research Community Fundraising & Engagement Officer Lancashire & Cumbria, at the group’s most recent meeting at Vale of Lune Rugby Club, Ben Clifton said: “We are both so proud to have completed this challenge for such a worthy cause.

“Our massive thanks go to our fantastic corporate sponsors, FGH Security, NORI HR and Employment Law, Hornby Commercial and Pete Burdell at Options Mortgage Centre, along with every single person who donated.

“Also, we could not have done it without the literally world class support of our crew of fellow BNI members and associates, Peter Walmsley, Tanya Harris, Duncan McKechnie and Charlotte Ellwood, without whom it absolutely wouldn’t have been possible.”

BNI Castle is a part of BNI, the world’s leading business referral organisation, with over 300,000 members in 77 countries. It provides weekly networking meetings for groups of businesses, who follow a structured meeting agenda that enables them to use their combined network of contacts to find business opportunities and referrals for one another.

Last year, its members in towns and cities across the UK & Ireland shared over half a billion pounds (£538m) of business between one-another.

Ben Clifton said: “The amazing thing about BNI is not just the business that members help each other to generate, it’s the community of likeminded people that it provides.

“When you bring people together with a central ethos of working together and helping one another, there are no ends to what we are able to achieve in support of the communities in which we live and work, and I’m so proud to be part of such a fantastic group.”