Pictured: Representatives from Anthony Collins, the FourCubed team and representatives from the nine charities: Whizz-Kidz, Rathbone, Cord, MLST, Cerebra, The Children's Society, Cystic Fibrosis, SENSE, The Lighthouse Group and YMCA

Staff at Anthony Collins Solicitors in the heart of Birmingham City Centre, have presented a cheque for £25,000 to ten nominated charities as their ambitious 12 month fundraising initiative comes to an end.

Charities benefiting from the money raised include: Whizz-Kidz, Rathbone, Cord, MLST, Cerebra, The Children's Society, Cystic Fibrosis, SENSE, The Lighthouse Group and YMCA.

Romaine Thompson, Senior Partner at the firm said, "We're delighted to have raised so much money for these worthwhile causes. At Anthony Collins Solicitors we've long recognised the impact the firm can have on the people and communities we serve and we aspire to make a real difference. Our fundraising initiative was just another way to help us achieve our goal. We're thrilled to be supporting the excellent work these charities do."

The fundraising effort was kick started in October 2010 by the firm's FourCubed team, made up of Partner Rankeshwar Batta and Solicitors Amy O'Connor, Kate Jackson and David Evison who, inspired by the work of Whizz Kidz, decided to run four 10Ks, four half marathons and four full marathons each, in one year.

The gruelling challenge began in Birmingham and ended in Wolverhampton, with many of the runs inbetween taking the dedicated team of four as far as Edinburgh, Liverpool, London and Gloucester and many more locations. Many thousands of miles of training was clocked up between the four runners and over 700 miles during the marathons themselves.

Rankeshwar said, "Through our work all four of us are involved with adults and children whose lives have been affected by life-changing accidents or illnesses. On turning 40 last year I wanted to make an extra special contribution to fundraising, making as much money as possible over a 12 month period for my chosen charity, Whizz-Kidz. I then convinced colleagues to take part!

"We had many highs and lows during our 12 month challenge, one of the main ones being the unprecedented severe weather conditions with many marathons cancelled or postponed due to snow which greatly impacted on our marathon and training schedule."     

Nathan Giles, who is West Midlands representative on the Kidz Board, said, "The Anthony Collins Solicitors FourCubed Initiative has raised an overwhelming amount of money. This money will be used to clear the backlog of children that need their wheelchairs funded by Whizz-Kidz. The commitment the FourCubed running team have shown and the hours of training they have had to do to prepare for each running event is testament to the fact they really believe they can make a difference to the lives of children."

Inspired by the efforts of the FourCubed team, the remaining staff at Anthony Collins decided to nominate nine additional charities and held numerous fundraising activities throughout the year, including bake sales, cocktail parties, quizzes and much more. 

Adds Rankeshwar: "The ongoing financial uncertainty has affected businesses and charities alike. We want to thank everyone for their contributions - however large or small, all the money raised has gone to such good causes. In particular I'd like to acknowledge some key corporate supporters including: St Philips Chambers, Hardwicke Chambers, Nestor Partnership, No 5 Chambers, ID Sports and The Pharmacy Galleria."   

Kit Lawry, who works for Cord UK said, "I continue to be impressed by what a positive, dynamic and motivated team Anthony Collins is, and feel privileged to have been working with Anthony Collins this past year. The mixture of fun and games and solid achievement - raising £25,000 working all together is a tremendous achievement - is inspiring. Thank you very much to all involved."