CELEBRATING 40 YEARS OF JOHN CULLEN LIGHTING
From 1981 – 2021, we’re delighted to be celebrating 40 years of delivering lighting projects.
To mark this incredible milestone, as a team we are committing to each contribute and take part in 40 challenges throughout the year. Each will give back in a multitude of different ways, whether fundraising, a focus on wellbeing or planting trees.
We’ll be tracking our progress during 2021 as well as sharing our experiences and stories on Instagram. Look back here to see how this story develops throughout the year.
Our challenges to date
To kickstart our challenges, the team took part in Earth Hour. From London to Dubai, we switched off our lights from for an hour, in support of nature and our planet.
May is National Walking Month, so our team are pledged to walk as much as possible throughout the month by setting themselves individual targets.
For Mental Health Awareness Week, 10-16th May, the focus was on nature. Our team took time out to connect with nature, unwind and raise awareness.
In May, Alice Berry, PA to Sally Storey took on a 70 mile cycle ride around the Isle of Wight, with 7 hours moving time and over 4,872 ft of elevation. Well done Alice!
Our Senior Product Designer, Alex, took part in the Northcoast 500 cycle, consisting of 120km around Loch Ness with over 1.3km elevation. Go Alex!
At our summer party our team cam together to plant a tree to commemorate our 40th anniversary, as a step towards our 40 challenges and goals for the year.
In August our Lighting Designer Elle took on the challenge of a 40Km walk between Newgale and St David’s along the Pembrokeshire coast, raising £340 for Mind, the Mental Health Charity. Great work Elle!
The team took on two challenges during September to raise money for Mind, the Mental Health Charity.
On Saturday 11th September, 15 of the team each took on the Ultra Challenge, 28Km Thames Path Challenge, starting in Fulham and ending in Hurst Park, Hampton.
For the duration of September we also took on our inaugural ‘Perspire With Might’ John Cullen challenge, covering the distance of at least one Iron Man (running, swimming and cycling) as a joint effort over the course of the month.
Between the Iron Man team of 10, we ran, swam and cycled over 720km, completing over 3 full Ironman challenges across the 3 sports. Special mention to the swimmers who collectively swam over 7x the Ironman distance!
We raised a fantastic £2,005 for the Mental Health Charity, Mind. Follow our fundraising here.
On October 13th we took part in The Brilliant Breakfast, bringing together a group of designers in London, hosted by our Creative Director Sally Storey in aid of the Prince’s Trust Women Supporting Women initiative. £825 was raised for young women in the UK who need our support, helping them towards a more positive future.
For Mental Health Awareness Day on the 10th October, our Design Associate Sabrina Fiorina got involved in an event organised by her Psychologist friend to encourage children to get creative. The workshop took place in a park in Turin, Italy where the children created bookmarks with papers, colours and a range of materials.
Our Business Development Manager for Europe, Baptiste Laulhé-Desauw took on the challenge of running the Barcelona Marathon on Sunday 7 November. Well done to Baptiste who completed the route in a fantastic 3hrs, 50 mins!
Our Marketing Director Sarah volunteered for the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal Collection on Saturday 6 November, collecting outside Clapham Junction station.
Well done to 3 of our team member, Alex Leck, Luke Shiner and Matt Healey for taking part in the Movember challenge! In total they raised £457 for a fantastic cause which raises awareness of men’s health issues, such as prostate cancer, testicular cancer, and men’s suicide. See their fundraising page here.
For the final challenge of the year we are taking on the Reverse Advent Calendar Challenge. Each day throughout December we’ll be adding items to a box and then before Christmas we’ll each be donating this to out local food bank or charity shop, to give back and spread a bit of cheer over the festive season!
