This year’s Ben Ball – hosted at the Roundhouse London – has helped raise more than £87,000 for the charity’s automotive work.
Held on 11 December 2019, the event was attended by more than 650 guests, hosted by Ben’s chief executive, Zara Ross, and fundraising director, Matt Wigginton.
The evening included entertainment with Ben’s Greatest Show, a gospel choir, music from the band, Fully Funktional, and much more. The audience enjoyed guest appearances from Mat Watson from CarWow and also Jonny Gould, renowned auctioneer and Channel Five presenter.
The event also saw the announcement that Ben’s 2019 Industry Leader Challenge (ILC), the Epic Thames Waterbike Ride, raised an incredible total of £273,360. This challenge involved Jon Wakefield, managing director of Volvo Cars Sweden; Tim Tozer, CEO of Allianz Partners UK and Ireland and Darren Guiver, former managing director of Group 1 Automotive. The trio cycled over 170 miles in 4 days down the River Thames on self-propelled water bikes through 45 locks. With an average of 12 hours in the saddle each day, this was no mean feat!
Next year’s event will feature up to 10 teams from well-known automotive businesses who have pledged to take part in Ben’s ILC 2020: The Climb. One person from each company will climb Mount Kilimanjaro in October next year, with fundraising targeted to reach £500,000.
Three leaders from Ben will also be taking part in The Climb: Zara Ross, Ben’s chief executive, Matt Wigginton, fundraising director and Rachel Clift, health & wellbeing director.
Matt Wigginton said: “Everyone has their own mountain to climb at some point in their life – no matter who you are, what you do or where you come from. We are slightly daunted, but we can’t wait to achieve something incredible in 2020 by reaching the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro, together with some of the industry’s most intrepid senior leaders! There are still a couple of spots left for this incredible challenge so get in touch with me (matt.wigginton@ben.org.uk) if you would like to find out more.”
