Latest posts by Dermot Davitt (see all)
- A celebration of speed and sumptuous Qatari hospitality - October 8, 2023
- ‘Pura vida’ – A captivating Costa Rican experience - March 23, 2023
- Rum, food and music – a cultural tour of discovery in Jamaica - March 1, 2023
As the clock ticks down to The Moodie Report Great Travel Retail Educathlon (28-30 June), word is coming in of some extraordinary fund-raising efforts around the world.
As reported, the 2013 event is the follow-up to the hugely successful Moodie Multi-National Marathons of the past two years, which have raised over US$650,000 across the worldwide travel retail community.
It encourages participants from the travel retail industry to complete 7k on any of the chosen days in any location in the world. But in a new twist, they can complete the distance by any means at all – including walking, running, cycling, swimming, flying, ballooning, rowing, surfing, triathloning – the more creative the better.
Many industry executives have grouped together to form their own teams – and a number have forged ahead with some gold medal fund-raising performances to date.
Among them is Band on the Run (named after the 1973 Paul McCartney & Wings album of the same name), comprising King Power Group’s Sunil Tuli together with well-known industry executives Jessica Howells, David Spillane, Barry Geoghegan, plus Jessica’s husband Jon Howells and Billy Norman, known in travel retail as head of the Billy Norman Band, which has played many an industry event with distinction.
The group had an initial fund-raising target of US$15,000 – but such has been the number of pledges (US$20,000 and rising) that it has now doubled the projected figure to US$30,000.
Tuli tells us: “We have been shown a lot of support from friends and associates for this cause, and we are hoping to raise more in the next month or so before we do the Educathlon on 28 June.”
You can help give wings to Band on the Run by donating here – http://charitygiving.co.uk/jessicahowells
To support this and/or other teams, donations can be made either to specific registered participants or into a central race fund, with the money raised going to a group of local regional educational charities or schools nominated by some of the world’s leading travel retailers and industry bodies. These include:
ALIA PRIMARY SCHOOL – Nominated by Aer Rianta International ME
HAND IN HAND FOR HAITI – Nominated by DFS
KARATAS VILLAGE SCHOOL – Nominated by The Nuance Group
THE LOTUS FLOWER TRUST – Nominated by WDFG and WiT
SOS CHILDREN’S VILLAGES – Nominated by Dufry