Brave firewalkers to walk barefoot on hot coals for Care Workers Charity

A group of people working in the care and healthcare property sector, will be hot-footing it over burning coals at a fundraising event, in a bid to raise over £4,000 for the charity which supports care workers.

The firewalk is being held to raise money for The Care Workers Charity, which supports current, former and retired care professionals, by providing assistance to relieve financial hardship or sickness.

The event, which is being hosted by The Women in Healthcare Property Forum and is sponsored by Hallmark Care Homes and TLC Group, will take place at the Holiday Inn Express in Stratford, East London on Friday 7 November.

Davina Ludlow, director of carehome.co.uk, is one of the firewalkers taking part in the event.

She has taken part in one of Hallmark Care Homes’ firewalks before and said: “The Firewalk is an inspirational experience, which proved to be motivational and thought provoking. It is an excellent platform to broaden your thinking on your own limitations and to realise we create our own opportunities, they do not create themselves.”

Morgan Allen, associate at Gerald Eve, advising on valuations of care homes, nurseries and schools, is also taking part in the firewalk. It is her first time and she admitted she is “terrified”.

“I am nervous of course about doing the firewalk, in fact I’m terrified,” she said. “This is a real challenge for me as I’m a bit of a scaredy-cat when it comes to things like this. I’ve never done anything like it before, and most likely never will again – so I am looking forward to feeling exhilarated afterwards!

“We decided to raise money for the Care Workers Charity – everyone taking part has made a living from the care sector, so it’s time we gave something back.”

The Women in Healthcare Property Forum, which is hosting the firewalk, was set up two years ago by four women working in the care sector - Sue Earrey from Hallmark Care Homes, Morgan Allan from Gerald Eve, Karen Whitehead from GB Solutions and Viv Shepherd from Healthcare Business.

Sue Earrey, land and development manager at Hallmark Care Homes said: “It is evident when we go to networking events that ladies are in short supply, when they arrive alone they either have to have the courage to break into a conversation or wait to be approached to talk to someone and often don’t know many people in the room.

“So when many of us came together at the 2013 and 2014 Pinders Awards there were ladies in the room that knew each other from the forum and comments were made about how much easier it was to participate in a networking event knowing there will be faces they knew there, and in turn they were introduced to others in the industry = more effective networking!

“We run quarterly events and other activities on an ad hoc basis and aim to provide a dynamic forum for a range of women in the healthcare property sector including operators, solicitors, funders and surveyors, to discuss the issues facing the sector and to create networking and business opportunities.

“We come together to expand our relationships in the industry, to talk shop (or not!) and catch up on what is happening in our sector.”

The forum meets at venues in London with the hosts covering the costs of the event and Gerald Eve, Savills, Metro Bank and Pennington’s solicitors have all hosted an event.

There are now nearly 200 members of the forum. If you would like more information on the forum, email sue.earrey@hallmarkcarehomes.co.uk.