Greene King manager raises £1,200 for Macmillan by sky diving

02-Feb-2022 - Last updated on 02-Feb-2022 at 10:42 GMT

'Epic result': Greene King business development manager raises £1,200 for Macmillan Cancer Support after completing a 10,000ft skydive

A Greene King business development manager has raised £1,200 for Macmillan Cancer Support after completing a 10,000ft skydive.

Nicola McGuinness, who is responsible for Greene King’s Premium, Urban and Venture pubs in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Stirling, Dumfries, and surrounding areas, raised more than £20,000 in total for the charity over the course of 2021 with the help of her team.

McGuinness said: “I have never been skydiving before and nor will I ever again!

“It was a 7,000ft freefall then parachute down to the ground, it challenged me well outside my comfort zone but I felt I had to up my game to encourage people to part with their cash for me.”

Above and beyond

The sky dive, which was completed in Auchterarder, Scotland, took just five minutes and ended a year-long series of fundraising activities.

During 2021, McGuinness’ pubs’ managers and teams held a host of events and activities including a Glasgow to Edinburgh cycle ride, a 1,083-mile Land’s End to John O’ Groats virtual walk, charity football matches, Brave the Shave, cake sales, raffles, charity nights and charity music days.

Last year saw Greene King raise more than £2m for Macmillan Cancer Support, making it the charities top fundraising corporate partner of the year.

Speaking in December 2021, Greene King chief executive Nick Mackenzie said: “It’s hard to put into words just how proud I am of every member of the Greene King team who has gone above and beyond this year to raise this incredible amount.

Truly inspiring

“Not only has it been a phenomenally challenging year to run a pub through a variety of restrictions and challenges, but to then go out in addition to doing the day job and put on charitable events and undertake epic challenges truly is inspiring”.

The operator, which was founded in 1799 and now operates 2,600 pubs, restaurants, and hotels nationwide, has been raising money for Macmillan Cancer Support since 2012 and has raised over £10million to date.

McGuinness added: “I will never forget the experience, my team really rallied to raise as much money as we could this year and it has been an epic result.”