Lloyd's - Lloyd’s Charity Challengers strike gold raising over £250,000

The Lloyd’s Charity Challenge teams were celebrating today after raising a staggering £250,000* for Lloyd’s Charities Trust’s three partner charities: Coram, FARM-Africa and Samaritans.

At today’s final event in the Old Library, Lloyd’s Chairman, Lord Levene and his fellow judges Holly Bellingham and Graham White, awarded Marketform the title ‘Challenge Champions’ for their outstanding efforts in raising over £70,000 for their allocated charity, Coram. The highlight of their fundraising activities was a Champagne reception at The Coram Museum in Bloomsbury. Their other events included a children's drawing competition and a BBQ for staff.

Due to the fantastic total amount that was raised – which equates to just under £10,000 for each working day of the Charity Challenge month - the Judges also made two additional awards to the Argenta and Hiscox teams who were raising money for Samaritans and FARM-Africa and who, along with Marketform, made up the top three fundraising teams.

The judges presented Beazley with the ‘Challenge Creatives’ accolade for their innovative approach to fundraising, which included organising a school disco, pamper evenings, a 26 mile relay marathon, a strawberries and cream event during Wimbledon, and a ‘guess the number of balloons in a SMART car’ competition.

Eleven teams from the Lloyd’s market took part in the month long charity competition, organised by Lloyd’s Community Affairs team, during which they were required to devise innovative and wallet-opening ideas to raise as much money as possible for their allocated charities.

The teams also faced surprise weekly challenges from the judges, which were designed to help them with their fundraising efforts. These included a "Rush for Riches" dash around the Square Mile, a 10km run, selling rides in classic cars, and a wine tasting competition.

The teams taking part in the Charity Challenge were Alsford Page & Gems, Argenta Syndicates, Beazley, Canopius, Chaucer Syndicates, Hiscox, Liberty Syndicates, Lloyd's Market Operations & North America, Lloyd's Market Reserving & Capital, Marketform and Willis.

Speaking at the final event, Lloyd’s Chairman Lord Levene was full of praise for the eleven teams:

“I want to congratulate all of the Charity Challenge teams for the tremendous amount of money they have raised in the last month for Lloyd’s partner charities. It is a fantastic achievement and the overall total exceeded everyone's expectations. I and my fellow judges have been extremely impressed by the hard work and enthusiasm that has been shown by all of the teams, and the money raised will go a long way to helping Coram, FARM-Africa and Samaritans to continue with their extraordinary work with individuals and communities at risk both in the UK and overseas.”

In addition to the weekly challenges, no stone was left unturned in the team’s quests for cash to fill their collection buckets. Some of the highlights included:

• APG organised a football tournament in the City for its employees and clients, and a Bring and Buy sale to raise money for FARM-Africa;
• The ten members of the Argenta team cycled a virtual lap of the M25 motorway on a stationary bike in fancy dress outside the Lloyd’s Building to raise money for Samaritans;
• Canopius organised a Sounds of Africa dance and music troupe outside Lloyd’s to raise funds for FARM-Africa;
• Chaucer, supporting Coram, held a Stars and Stripes Day at their offices to celebrate American Independence Day on 4 July. Chaucer CEO, Ewen Gilmour and other company directors dressed as film stars for sponsorship;
• Team Hiscox hosted a poker tournament at the Loose Cannons Poker Club at Hallows Lane in aid of their charity, FARM-Africa;
• Liberty held a Euro 2008 sweepstake and a Champagne raffle in support of Coram;
• Lloyd’s Market Reserving & Capital, supporting Samaritans, offered Managing Agents the opportunity to have a member of the team at their beck and call for two days during mini secondments;
• Lloyd’s Market Operations & North America hosted a Quiz at the Auberge Bar in support of FARM-Africa; and
• The Willis team, supporting Coram, organised a mini golf tournament outside the new Willis building

The money raised by the teams supporting Coram will go towards helping to extend their work with children, young people and their families in London including their pioneering Concurrent Planning Adoption Programme.

The money raised for FARM-Africa will go towards transforming the lives of rural farmers and their families in East Africa. FARM-Africa works at the grassroots to help farmers to find long term solutions to hunger and to improve their livelihoods.

Finally, the money raised by the teams for Samaritans will go towards their work of providing confidential emotional support, 24 hours a day, for people who are experiencing feeling of distress or despair.

*The total amount raised by the Lloyd’s Charity Challenge is £237,832.40 which, when Gift Aid is added, takes the total to over £250,000.

Kicking off the competition on 3 June was ‘the ‘Rush for Riches’ challenge which saw the teams dash around the Square Mile to find destinations linked to the three partner charities. Their efforts were rewarded with various items which helped to kick-start their fundraising efforts. Starting as they meant to go on, Marketform came first in this event.

The second weekly challenge – ‘Let the race begin’ - required stamina as the teams had to find a willing volunteer to compete in the British 10k London Run on 6 July. After finding their volunteers, the teams had to raise as much money as possible through sponsorship for their runners. A prize was also awarded for the fastest finisher from among the teams which was Steve Throssell from Lloyd’s running on behalf of the Lloyd’s MRC team whose impressive time placed him in the top 50 finishers of the entire race.

The Charity Challengers had to step on the accelerator for their third weekly challenge – ‘Driving Ambition’ - which saw them given just three days to sell rides in one of six luxury classic cars. The glamorous cars attracted lots of attention when they arrived outside the Lloyd’s Building to pick up their passengers for the day. Argenta raised the most money with their choice of car - the Ferrari 308 GT4 Dino.

For their fourth challenge – the ‘Wine is Right’ – the teams battled it out in a series of wine related challenges at Corney & Barrow under the Lloyd's Building. Each team was tasked with selling tickets to the evening event to raise money for their allotted charity. The winning team were brokers APG who, as well as demonstrating their superior wine knowledge, promptly auctioned off their winning magnum of Champagne in aid of their charity - FARM-Africa.

After completing all the weekly tasks, the teams then had to confront their final exercise of the Challenge – ‘Facing the Judges’. Each team was given five minutes in the company of the three Judges, during which they were quizzed on how they had approached the Charity Challenge, and how much money they expected to raise overall. The responses formed part of the Judges’ final deliberations for both the Charity Champions and Charity Creatives accolades, and gave the teams a chance to showcase the fundraising activities they had undertaken.

About the Judges

Lord Peter Levene, Lloyd's Chairman

Lord Peter Levene was elected Chairman of Lloyd’s of London in November 2002. Previously, he served as Vice Chairman of Deutsche Bank.

He was Chairman of the UK defence company, United Scientific Holdings, and then became Chief of Defence Procurement in the UK Ministry of Defence. He was Advisor to the UK Prime Minister on Efficiency and Effectiveness from 1992 to 1997, Chairman of the Docklands Light Railway and Chairman and Chief Executive of Canary Wharf Ltd.

He served as Lord Mayor of London for the year 1998-99. He received a knighthood in 1989 and became a life Peer in July 1997.

Currently he is also Chairman of General Dynamics UK Ltd, and a director of Haymarket Group, Total SA, and China Construction Bank.

Holly Bellingham, Lloyd's Charities Trust Trustee and Chairman of Marketform

Holly Bellingham is a Trustee of Lloyd's Charities Trust and Chairman of Marketform Group Ltd.

Holly's background was as a non-US medical malpractice underwriter. She began her insurance career in 1979 as a professional indemnity broker, then becoming a medical malpractice underwriter in 1982. Holly subsequently led a management buy-out to establish Marketform Limited in 1989.

A keen supporter of Ipswich Town Football Club, she joined the plc board in 2004 and was the first woman to sit on the board of the club.

Graham White, Chairman of Lloyd's Charities Trust and Deputy Chairman of Argenta Syndicate Management.

Graham White is the Chairman of Lloyd's Charities Trust. He has been in the Lloyd’s market since 1968, having graduated from Cambridge and has been a reinsurance broker, company secretary and members’ and managing agent.

Graham has held a number of non-executive directorships both within and outside the Lloyd’s market. He is Deputy Chairman of Argenta Syndicate Management Limited, and was appointed Deputy Chairman of Lloyd's in 2007.