Irwin Mitchell Charity Basketball Match is a Triumph
Charity wheelchair basketball match in Ealing raises more than £4,600 for charity
03/11/2008
Staff from law firm Irwin Mitchell competed against the Aspire Wheelchair Basketball team in a charity basketball match in Ealing last night to raise money for injured soldiers. The event raised more than £4,600 for the 3 Para Afghanistan Trust, Help for Heroes and the Aspire Basketball Team.
The Charity event, hosted by armed forces experts at law firm Irwin Mitchell and military catering and hospitality company Sodexo saw a two match spectacular where the Irwin Mitchell team took on the 3 Para team and the Aspire Basketball team.
Andrew Buckham from the Armed Forces team at Irwin Mitchell organised the event. He said: "Although we did lose to the Aspire Basketball team, unsurprisingly, we managed to hold our own against the 3 Para’s which I think came as a bit of a shock to all of us.
"The evening was a resounding success with £4,631 being raised for the three charities and we were delighted by the number of people that turned up to support such worthy causes."
Also on the night cheques totalling £228,000 were distributed evenly to the Royal Hospital for Neurodisability in Putney, the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association (SSAFA), the Royal British Legion and the British Limbless Ex-Service Men's Association (BLESMA) raised through the legal fighting fund started to help the family of Ben Parkinson, a paratrooper seriously wounded by a mine in Afghanistan, mount a judicial review challenge to the government scheme in the High Court over compensation available to injured service personnel.
The money has since been donated to charity after the MoD agreed to increase the maximum level of compensation that could be awarded through to armed forces compensation scheme.
Andrew Buckham continued: "We would like to thank everyone that came and supported the evening, making it a fantastic success. We are extremely pleased to be able to help these inspirational charities."