Staff at one of Yorkshire’s leading law firms are hitting the road for charity.
Solicitors and staff from Ison Harrison, which has 19 offices across the region, are gearing up to swap their office chairs for cycling saddles as part of a charity fundraising initiative and a firm-wide fitness drive.
Around 50 employees at the law firm, which marked its 40th anniversary last year, are taking part in the initiative which aims to raise £5000 for Leeds-based charity, Little Hiccups. The activity is part of the firm’s new ‘Cycle September’ initiative encouraging health and wellbeing in the workplace with the intention of raising further funds. Little Hiccups is a Leeds-based support group for families who have a child with disabilities or special needs.
Kickstarting the #CycleSeptember campaign, Ison Harrison’s new Barnsley branch manager, Anne Robertson, will undertake a 127-mile sponsored bike ride along the entire length of the Leeds Liverpool Canal on 30th/31st August.
Anne has volunteered to take on the challenge to raise money for Little Hiccups and other supporters of the charity will also be taking part in the race.
Previously a qualified nurse, Anne originally joined Ison Harrison in March 2018 and became branch manager of Barnsley in July this year.
From 1st September, the newly launched Ison Harrison Community Fund, an annual charity donation fund, will donate £1 for every mile cycled by Ison Harrison staff throughout the month.
Ison Harrison’s Head of Clinical Negligence, James Thompson, has formed close links with Little Hiccups and is a Trustee of the charity. As Little Hiccups is celebrating 10 years of supporting children and families with additional needs, they have pledged to try to raise £10,000 every month during 2019. Staff from all the firm’s 19 branches will be getting their bikes out and helping the charity to reach its target.
At the end of September, the miles cycled will be totalled up and turned into an equivalent donation to Little Hiccups including the money raised from Anne’s challenge.
Managing partner of Ison Harrison, Jonathan Wearing, who will also be taking part commented: “We are hoping that with these two combined initiatives we reach our £5,000 target to support Little Hiccups whilst also helping to promote the wellbeing of our staff and recognise the great work Leeds City Council have been doing with the new cycle routes.
“At Ison Harrison we believe in having a close connection in the communities we work in and this is a really positive way for the whole firm to come together in support of a deserving local cause. This follows hot on the heels of a year long effort during our 40th anniversary year where we raised £10k for 40 local charities. With this latest effort, we hope that we can go some way to helping to depopulate Leeds City Centre with cars by encouraging as many team members to get on their bike – just one month really can make a big difference.”
Ison Harrison is officially the most accredited law firm in Yorkshire* and the firm has a team of over 200 staff across its network of offices.
To support Anne’s cycle ride please visit her Just Giving page: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/littlehiccupscycle
Visit www.isonharrison.co.uk for more information.
ENDS
*Law Society accreditations as of Jan 2019
