Displaying items by tag: Charity

A-Trax has recently opened a new facility in Ballyclare, Country Antrim to supply crawler track systems to Northern Ireland’s booming crushing and screening sector. As such we’re delighted to announce our sponsorship of Perennials Rugby Football Club. The Perennials are a unique Irish Rugby club, based in Belfast, that invites veteran players over the age of 35 years who wish to continue playing once a month against teams of a similar age.

The Perennials were formed in 1989 with the mission of playing and supporting rugby, touring regularly and raising money for charity. Over the last 32 years, the club has certainly achieved just that, becoming one of the best known and respected Rugby teams. The club patron is Tommy Bowe, who played on the wing for Ulster, Ireland and the British & Irish Lions with many ex-Ulster and ex-Ireland players having turned out to play for the side.

As well as home matches in Northern Ireland the Perennials have embarked upon numerous Rugby tours competing in Scotland, England, Ireland, Isle of Man, South Africa, Portugal, Spain, USA and Canada. Whilst doing so they have also raised over £500,000 for a variety of charities including Rotary International, Alzheimer’s Society, MS Society, Sense and the Northern Ireland Air Ambulance to name but a few. Their largest single donation for £28,000 was to the Northern Ireland Cancer Fund for Children to purchase a minibus.

They also currently sponsor and support the Northern Ireland Wheelchair Basketball League in Partnership with Disability Sport NI financing both the League and 3v3 Cup Competitions, with at present four Wheelchair Basketball clubs across Northern Ireland. These are The Knights - Antrim and Belfast; The Craigavon Lakers – Craigavon; The Causeway Giants - Causeway Area; and The North West Wolves - Derry~Londonderry.

They also support the Malone Tornadoes, Northern Ireland’s first Mixed ability Rugby Team for adults with physical, mental or learning differences and will represent Northern Ireland in next year’s International Mixed Ability Rugby Tournament being held in Cork.

Perennials’ Club President David Elliott said, “We are so grateful and delighted to have A-Trax as our club sponsor. We always try and support all of our sponsors at all times and create a partnership that will last many years. The Perennials are all about giving back something to the community from our Rugby Club members.”

Shaun Edwards, Managing Director of A-Trax, said, “we recognise all the charitable work that has been undertaken by the Perennials over the years, in particular the sterling fundraising efforts that have benefitted so many extremely worthwhile causes. It’s a pleasure to be shirt sponsors and we wish them every success for the future.”

For more information about the Perennials please visit http://www.perennialsrfc.com/

On Saturday 26th June 2021, our very own Matt Cox, Commercial Manager at A-Trax, cycled 150 miles across England in a phenomenal 11 hours, 59 mins and 43 seconds. He was taking part in an organised challenge called Coast to Coast in a Day. Starting at the crack of dawn from the picturesque village of Seascale in Cumbria his journey took him through the Yorkshire Dales and North York Moors before finally finishing in the seaside town of Whitby

With many challenging moments Matt powered through even the most vertiginous of valleys, hills and dales to finish in the top 10% of riders. No mean feat considering the route has a total ascent of over 4,500 metres (that’s nearly as high as Western Europe’s highest mountain, Mount Blanc) and includes one of the steepest roads in England, the infamous Hardknott Pass with a lung-busting gradient of 1 in 3 (about 33%).

Matt used the opportunity to fundraise for Parkinson’s UK and in doing so raised a fantastic £960 through his JustGiving page. This figure was generously matched by our MD, Shaun Edwards, with a company donation bringing the total to £1920!

Shaun said: “As a business we believe in supporting the efforts of our staff especially when the focus is on giving something back to the community. This was a supreme effort by Matt for a cause that is close to my heart. It was great to be involved to help Parkinson’s UK continue to do their great work.”

Katie Thomas, Regional fundraiser from Parkinson’s UK said, “After a year of being told what we can’t do, we’re focusing on what we can do. Thanks to the generous support of people like Matt and Shaun, we can fund the right research into the most promising treatments. This donation will make a real difference to people with Parkinson’s, and the people in their lives. Matt and everyone at ATG and A-Trax have helped make this fundraising challenge a huge success. Thank you so much for fundraising for Parkinson’s UK and making a difference to the Parkinson’s community.”

Reflecting on his achievement Matt explained that the inspiration behind the venture started back in 2019 with some speculative banter between cycling friends about who would be the first to cycle across England. Matt blinked first and entered the event in 2020, which was subsequently cancelled because of COVID 19. However, his desire to see it through never wavered so when 2021 was confirmed, he was more than ready to get back in the saddle.

“Parkinson’s has affected my close family and I knew is affecting the Edwards’ family, so it seemed a natural choice to choose Parkinson’s UK as my charity for this event,” he explained, “it’s been amazing to find out how many of my social media contacts are also affected by this horrible disease, either directly or indirectly, so raising funds and awareness can only be a good thing.”

When asked about the appeal of an event of this nature he said, “I constantly like to test myself and there is nothing like the motivation that sponsorship brings, this was a pretty big challenge undertaken with less preparation than I would have liked. So to complete it in the top 10% and without any issues has given me a bit of over confidence. I just hope that feeling dissipates before I sign up for something really stupid!”

When he does, we’ll be sure to let you know. Watch this space!

If you or someone you know have been affected by Parkinson’s UK offers support via its hotlines and local groups.
To find out more visit: https://www.parkinsons.org.uk