Midnight Malvern Charity Plod

It’s midnight, most people are asleep, but not Malvern employees.

At 00:00 on June 11th a team of 12 Malvern employees, set off on the challenge of completing a continuous 40 mile walk along the Cotswolds Way.

Midnight Malvern Charity Plod
Team Members – (from left to right) Martin Weaver, Shona Murphy, Paola Sestito, Irina Stan, Nicolas Rinaldo, Alison Findlay, Jenny Bristow, Sarah Macdonell, Craig Sagar, Alice Gaujour and Chris Church

Team Spirit

The event brought together employees from a range of roles and departments to train together, laugh together and at the end cry together. Malvern Instruments are renowned for the way we build and strengthen relationships with our customers and colleagues to help complete even the toughest of challenges.

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Below are some short anecdotes from the team members who took part in the walk and have raised over £3000 for Action Medical Research, a charity dedicated to improving the health of babies and children.

Paola Sestito, Systems Engineer – Imaging

“The PLOD has been simply amazing! The sense of achievement was great, and this experience really improved friendship within the Malvern team and also my love for life in the UK!

The first half of the walk was incredible, especially the passages in the wood at night, immersed in magic silence and warm weather.

After walking 17miles throughout the night we stopped for breakfast as 6:30am.  I devoured a full English, honestly it was the first time in my life, and it was sooo good. I didn’t even care that it was pouring with rain.  At the next stop my colleague Irina needed a spare sock so I gave her one of my spare ones, and she started to say that she wants to buy the other one, she was really delusional…however we are still negotiating.

During the second half of the event, the walk became harder because of heavy rain and tons of mud (“What’s wrong??” Irina asked me – I will not report my answer here….) My legs started to be stiff by walking in the mud, my shins started to become sore and during the last 8 miles it was really painful. But I kept going, thanks to my team mates.

The arrival at the finish was so satisfactory, my husband and child were there with a huge pink bouquet and we all went emotional. A well-deserved glass of sparkling wine and a barbecue were waiting for us. Awesome!

Nicolas Rinaldo, Helpdesk Specialist

“It was a fantastic challenge! I did enjoy walking in the darkness and the calm of the night as well as climbing to the top of hills where some views were stunning.

We felt like warriors sometimes when we had to fight against the weather which decided to be too British sometimes but also against the tiredness, as I did not want to fall asleep while walking!”

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Irina Stan, Distributor Support Manager

“My main driver for PLOD was to try a big challenge that will allow me to get fitter, faster whilst supporting a very good cause. I enjoyed the training as it allowed me to get to know my colleagues better which I absolutely adore.

My biggest achievement was the fact that I am fast and confident enough to complete such a long walk. I admit that my legs were starting to give in towards the end but thanks to the team support I did not give in.

Our team was brilliant, one of the girl members actually put on some deodorant at one of the pit stops and it reminded me immediately about the “glamourous, civilized world” J. I actually told her: “You smell like a girl”

Being with the fastest members from our company, proved to be challenging for me at the beginning.  I was puffing and struggling very silently as I would never recognize that they were going at a much superior pace compared to mine.”

Thank you to all who took part in the event and the overwhelming support and contributions that have been received on our sponsor page.

If you are interested in an exciting, challenging and fast-paced opportunity with a company who understands that their employees are truly their most valuable resource check out our career opportunities.

Image courtesy of Nicolas Rinaldo.