In order to raise money, Branch Manager Nick Thomas suggested doing a Skydive!
We asked all team members whether they would like to take part. Initially there were eleven people interested. Slowly but surely, the team was confirmed as Rebecca Galley, Managing Director; Deb Wardle, Assistant Branch Manager; Claire English, Administrator and Corey Lewis, Branch Technician.
In June the skydive was booked at Langar Airfield, Nottingham for 18th September and there was no going back!
Fundraising began! Deb Wardle said: "I agreed to join in our charity skydive challenge, and having done so, I set about thinking of ways to generate the greatest amount of funds and donations.
"Time was fast approaching, and we only had a month to complete our fundraising before jump day. A Hydroscand JustGiving page was set up: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/hydroscand-uk, and I set about sharing the details with close family and friends and posting the link to my social media pages.
"I received a few donations but by the time two weeks had past, leaving just two weeks to jump day, I felt a different tack was required.
"I purchased some blackout cards from Amazon and once received, I created a message which I shared individually to all my family, friends and work colleagues, social media friends and acquaintances, stating that I intended to sell each of the 40 squares on the sheet, at £5 per square, generating £200 income.
"I planned to split the funds 50/50 with the charity, and a cash prize to the person with the winning square. This raised a lot of interest and over the course of the weekend, I received 36-40 pledges.
"By Sunday evening I delved a little deeper into my contact lists and pushed to fill the card. As a result, I had an influx of pledges and ended up completing 2 full cards!
"I went into work on Monday morning, took photos of the completed cards and arranged for our Product Manager to reveal the winners, by removing the foil tabs in the presence of Rebecca Galley and myself.
"I took photos of the cards and then set about notifying the donors with a message of thanks. I sent off the 2 x £100 donations to our charity page and sent the 2 x £100 payments to winner’s accounts.
"One of my works colleagues, Claire was also doing the jump. I gave her one of the cards and explained the format. Claire managed to fill the card and generated another £100 charity donation.
"Our target figure was reached, and we increased it twice more, following both Claire now sharing the donation page details daily on our social media pages.
"During the week before the jump, I also printed off the picture of the Hydroscand Team and text which I laminated and put on our branch doors saying that all donations would be gratefully received.
"I placed a collection tin in our canteen and one on our trade counter asking for donations.
"On the evening before and the morning of our jump, I decided to send a message out to some of our customers and supplier contacts and managed to get another £300 of donations.
The day finally arrived. Everyone arrived at the allotted time of 11am and registered. Then the wait began! It became cloudy and at one point we were not sure if the skydive was going to go ahead. After being delayed due to bad weather, they took to the sky around 2pm before completing freefall from 10,000ft followed by a slower descent via parachute a few minutes later.
The atmosphere was amazing, and everyone was buzzing. We asked for some reactions after the skydive and here is what they said:
Corey said: "Oh, that was brilliant, I loved it."
Deb said: "I did it."
Claire said: "I’m glad I am on the floor."
Rebecca said: "Absolutely terrifying. I’m glad we did it because we did it for a great cause."
We want to give our heartfelt thanks to everyone who has sponsored the team. We have raised in excess of £1,500 for Samaritans. The funds will help keep their helpline available for people who need it.