PEMBROKESHIRE organisations raised more than £1,000 for Children in Need by getting gunged.
Celtic Timber hosted the gunging, which was the brainchild of their head of marketing Jon Howcroft.
Mr Howcroft was joined by Ogi’s community engagement management lead for Pembrokeshire, Martin Jones, and Iwan Thomas who is chairman of the board at Pembrokeshire College and Planed’s CEO.
Mr Howcroft said: “As part of my role with Celtic Timber, I am always looking for ways that we can give back to our community and national charities. Having dunked in an oak barrel ice bath in the summer to raise money for The DPJ Foundation, we wanted to raise the stakes and what better way than getting gunged for Children in Need?
“Speaking to Iwan and Martin in the early planning stages, it was clear that they had the same passion and willingness to embarrass themselves for a good cause.”
The group planned to raise £500 for BBC Children in Need but ended up more than doubling their target, with a total of £1,200 raised.
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Mr Jones said: “I should say I thought I was signing up for a bake sale for Children in Need, and all of this gunging in a barrel was under false pretences.
“However, I agreed straightaway, as how often do you get to do something as crazy as this for a brilliant cause, and whose funds will hopefully impact and support so many young people here in West Wales. It was brilliant as an experience, and I even managed to sign up one of my colleagues from Ogi at the last minute, Louise Clement, to also join in!”
Mr Thomas said: “When Jon asked, I could not say no. A bit of cold discomfort for the few of us, to hopefully raise funds to assist and support the many young people who need the support of those charities was a clear driver for all of us, especially as sadly, Pembrokeshire has one of the highest child poverty rates in Wales.
“Plus, to raise awareness on a serious issue, but by being given this opportunity to step out of the normal routine and join these crazy idiots in a brilliant experience was something the three of us all signed up to without hesitation!”
The group used social media to encourage people to contribute and raise awareness and even got Tony Pennock, Haverfordwest County AFC’s manager to join in with his own barrel.
It was streamed live and supported by Pure West Radio and saw presenter Tom Dyer get gunged as well.
Helping reach the total of the £1,200, was the Scarlets as Gareth Davies – Scarlets and Wales scrum half – donated a Scarlets shirt signed by the squad which was auctioned off.
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