Monthly Archives: April 2016

DFS donates to charity bike ride

20 April 16

A Coleshill-based business is donating £300 to a charity that helped their colleague in his hour of need.

 

In September 2015 David Williams’ new-born daughter Aoife needed urgent medical attention having suffered very acute Meconium Aspiration Syndrome – a condition where waste was ingested into her lungs while still in the womb.

 

When Aoife was transferred to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge for specialist treatment, The Sick Children’s Trust charity stepped in to help both parents.

 

David and his wife were provided with a bedroom and shared lounge and kitchen in the charity’s ‘Chestnut House’ accommodation for ten days, which allowed them to be just feet away from their daughter throughout her treatment.

 

Aoife has now made a complete recovery, and her father is now in the middle of organising a bike ride to raise vital funds for The Sick Children’s Trust.

 

David with daughter Aoife, his son George and wife Tina.

 

David with daughter Aoife, son George and wife Tina

 

The Sick Children’s Trust provides free, high-quality ‘Home from Home’ accommodation, as well as emotional and practical support, to families with sick children in hospital in the UK.

 

David, who is corporate development manager at Diamond Facilities Support (DFS), said: “The accommodation gave me and my wife immense relief and enabled us to spend as much time as possible with Aoife, and be on hand when there was a chance it might be the only time we’d get to spend with her.

 

“It costs The Sick Children’s Trust £28 to provide accommodation every night and they rely entirely on voluntary income, so as my way of saying thank you and giving something back, I’m aiming to raise £7,500 from our charity bike ride in June.”

 

The 580 kilometre bike ride is called 24 hours 2 Le Mans, and is challenging cyclists to ride from The Royal London Hospital, East London to the Circuit de la Sarthe, Le Mans in just one day.

 

All donations made to each rider taking part will go towards helping The Sick Children’s Trust provide accommodation to families with seriously ill children.

 

Adam Atkins, managing director at DFS, added: “All of us were touched to hear about how David and his family were helped during a difficult period, so we were more than happy to make a donation to what is a great cause.”

 

To make a donation and get behind the charity bike ride, visit www.justgiving.com/24h2lm

Engineers praised for helping flood victims

20 April 16

Engineers from a Midlands business have been praised for their efforts in helping flood victims return to their homes following the recent storms.

Since the start of December right through to the end of January, thousands of homes and businesses have been ruined in the north of England and Scotland by five different storms – known as Desmond, Eva, Frank, Gertrude and Henry.

Over 10 engineers from national maintenance firm Diamond Facilities Support (DFS), whose headquarters are on Coleshill Industrial Estate, have visited various affected towns to perform the vital task of restoring electricity to hundreds of homes.

At the turn of the New Year, engineer Scott Gall did a significant round trip every day for two weeks to help the Scottish residents of Ballater, which had been submerged in up to seven feet of water.

Scott said: “I would leave my home in Blairgowrie at 5am and not return until 11pm in minus conditions, but none of that mattered to me, my main priority was to do everything within my power to help people return to their homes.

“On my first day I arrived to a sea of devastation and it really wasn’t nice to behold. By the time I got there a lot of the water had subsided but you could see on the houses where the water had got up to.

“We spent the two weeks restoring electricity to around 50 homes. This involved installing temporary electricity boards to enable the dehumidifiers to go in and dry the houses out, and making sure the electricity supply is safe.”

 

Scott Gall, one of the engineers who helped flood victims.

Scott Gall

There were similar scenes in Kendal and Halifax where Garry Butterfield was part of a team that spent a week away from his family replicating the same job.

Garry, from Leeds, added: “Seeing the devastation on people’s faces was more than enough motivation to keep going.”

“I had only been with the business for two weeks when the storms struck so I had to learn the ropes pretty quickly, but in my opinion I was just doing my job.”

Adam Atkins, director of DFS, paid tribute to his staff who had been working flat out amid difficult circumstances.

Adam said: “I’m extremely proud of the work carried out by our team in such difficult circumstances.

“During January we took over 1,000 calls from people needing help with electrical work following the devastation caused by the floods, and despite the huge workload lined up, each and every one of them has maintained a great degree of care.”

DFS is also a facilities management company, and in 2015, turned over £5.7 million. High profile clients include JD Sports, Bill’s Restaurants, Atkins Global and The Range, and have recently re-secured a multi-million pound contract with Pure Gym.