2020 marks Hewett Recruitment's 40th Anniversary. We originally had a number of festivities planned to celebrate, including our 40@40 Challenge, raising £40,000 for local charities. Unfortunately, the presence of Coronavirus and a three-month lockdown has prevented this.
In June, Shaun Marshall, an ex-serviceman and current local postman, intending to take on a 24-hour, lung busting challenge in repeatedly ascending and descending Mount Snowdon in aid of Kidderminster's Kemp Hospice. The pandemic prevented him from taking part in this challenge so he set his sights on something closer to home. The infamous Sion Hill in Kidderminster, both Shaun and Hewett Recruitment's local town, is renowned for being a “right b*gger” to get up… even in some vehicles! Shaun set himself the challenge of repeatedly ascending and descending the hill over a 12-hour period in an attempt to rack up as many miles as possible. His aim was to raise £1,800 for the local charity.
Naturally, Hewett Recruitment sprung into action to support Shaun as sponsors, designing t-shirts for Shaun and his family to wear, spreading awareness on social media and match funding donations of up to £100. We teamed up with our clients Bepco who promised to match fund donations and Rotary Creative Group who produced 200 fliers and printed t-shirts free of charge.
At 06:00 on Saturday 11 July, Shaun set off on his 12-hour challenge. He received support from friends, neighbourhood residents and complete strangers passing by throughout the day helping to push himself to his absolute limit and overcome the overwhelming lactic burn in his non-stop moving legs.
His intended fundraising total was £1,800, but with the overwhelming support he received the total exceeded £3,000 on the weekend of the challenge and continued to climb for several days afterwards. Shaun's face was scattered over social media, and the media coverage received was exceptional, significantly raising the profile of Kemp Hospice.
When speaking to Kidderminster Shuttle after his 'Hell on Sion Hill' Challenge, he 46-year-old former Marine said: "It was as difficult as I thought it was going to be. I managed to get up the hill 147 times and ran 44 and a quarter miles. It was tough.
"The support I've had has been unbelievable. People were driving past and bibbing or stopping at the bottom of the junction to donate money. I felt like a footballer or something - I couldn't believe it.
"As much as I thought 'this is too hard', I knew I couldn't give up."
You can still contribute to Shaun's efforts and read his story over at his Just Giving page.
We're extremely proud of Shaun and are delighted to have been able to support him on this incredible challenge. We look forward to continuing to support this rea; life superhero on his next challenge.
