ONE of the North-East’s best-known businessmen has raised more than £30,000 for charity by embarking on a spectacular trek along part of the Great Wall of China.
John Adamson, managing director of Ramside Estates, sets off on the five-day China Trek in October, in aid of the Butterwick Hospice.
John has been a proud Butterwick supporter for around a decade, raising more than £300,000 through events at his hotels – Hardwick Hall, near Sedgefield, and Ramside Hall and Bowburn Hall, near Durham.
One of the biggest annual fundraising events is the North East Oyster Festival at Hardwick Hall, which will be attended by 1,300 people on September 22.
However, John admits that the China Trek, along a section of the Great Wall of China from Gubeikou to Simatai, is a new challenge.
“I’ve never been to China and haven’t done anything like this before so I’m really looking forward to it,” he said. “I heard about it at a Butterwick networking event last year and it just seemed like a great thing to do.”
He knows he will miss his family – wife Suzanne and children Grace, 10, Charlotte, eight, Emily, seven, and Joseph, two – but will be spurred on by the knowledge that he is supporting a great cause.
John will be joined on the adventure by Hardwick Hall general manager Lee Kirtland, Bowburn Hall general manager Charlie Eadle, and a friend, Aidan Clark.
Two months before setting off, he has already raised more than £30,000 through a JustGiving page, a family fun day, sportsman’s dinner, and donations from business associates.
“I’ve always enjoyed a great relationship with the Butterwick Hospice and I want to put something back,” said John, who has been training by walking between his hotels.
John’s grandfather, Dick Coleman, started the business at Ramside in 1964 and his father, Michael Adamson MBE, took over after marrying Dick’s daughter Marian. Hardwick Hall was bought in 1969.
The business, which also includes Ramside Event Catering, now employs 650 people in the North-East and has invested £16m at Ramside over the last three years. A new addition to its portfolio will be the opening next spring of The Impeccable Pig, a new boutique hotel, bar and bistro in Sedgefield.
- To find out more about that China Trek, go to www.butterwick.org.uk/events/chinatrek
For further information, please call Peter Barron on 07711 958272