Crematoria honour Captain Sir Tom
Teams from Westerleigh Group’s crematoria walked a total of 1,000 miles to raise more than £3,500 in honour of pandemic hero Captain Sir Tom Moore, to mark what would have been his 101st birthday at the end of April.
Westerleigh Group, the UK’s largest independent crematoria and cemeteries business, challenged teams at its 35 sites nationwide to do something to support the Captain Tom Foundation.
As the Foundation supports charities which help people with life-limiting illnesses or who are facing or coping with bereavement, the leadership team threw down the gauntlet to its sites to come up with their own ideas for raising money.
Many Westerleigh teams decided that the best way to honour him was to walk 100 laps of their crematoria grounds, as Captain Tom had done at home, but some had other ideas.
The site manager at Forest of Dean Crematorium turned to pedal power, covering 100 miles on an indoor bike.
The team at Wessex Vale Crematorium hoisted a Union Jack on its new flagpole to mark how much money had been donated, and the team at Vale Royal Crematorium recorded a version of You’ll Never Walk Alone, the song Captain Tom recorded with Michael Ball.
The Group’s HR team also got in on the act, using an app to log them walking or running 519 miles – the distance between Stirlingshire Crematorium and Treswithian Downs in Cornwall, its northern and southernmost sites, raising more than £3,500 to the Captain Tom Foundation. Westerleigh Group will also be streaming a special Father’s Day service from 11am on June 20. Broadcast from Royal Vale Crematorium in Cheshire, it will include readings and music and can be found by visiting the news section of any of the group’s crematoria websites. It will then be available on the Group’s YouTube channel.
Tags: Captain Tom, Crematorium, Forest of Dean, fundraising, Tom Moore, Westerleigh