On the 26th April, the day when normally over £66m would be raised for charities by the London Marathon, the 2.6 Challenge took place instead and people from all over the UK were challenged to do anything with the numbers 2 and 6 in it. Edwards & Co Solicitors were right in the thick of it!
Conscious that our Charity of the Year, Bowel Cancer UK, was struggling with the cancellation of so many fundraising events this year, and always being up for a challenge, the Edwards & Co staff decided to get involved – remotely of course.
That Sunday our staff came up with a range of imaginative socially distanced challenges – climbed the stairs 26 times, running or walking 2.6 miles (in some cases, for the faint hearted, 2.6k), cycling for 26 minutes, baking 26 buns for neighbours, dancing for 26 minutes and allowing one of the children to take 26 penalty shoot-outs.
In total we raised over £3500 – an incredible effort given the current restrictions.
Whilst we and BCUK are delighted with this, there is much that needs to be done. BCUK have had to furlough more than half of their staff and expect to receive little or no support from the government’s support package for charities so they need our support now more than ever. They cannot deliver the lifesaving work they do with half of their staff.
This event is over but you can still donate at
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/edwards-co3
Here’s why we do it – Bowel cancer is Northern Ireland’s second biggest cancer killer. Around 1,100 men and women are diagnosed with bowel cancer every year in Northern Ireland, and 400 people die from the disease.
If diagnosed at the earliest stage, bowel cancer is highly treatable, with a survival rate of more than 93% over five years. However, poor awareness means that only 1 in 10 cases are detected at an early stage which often means it is too late to be treated.
