DHL help Formby school with a new cycle track

When a father of local primary school children applied for a grant to build a cycle track at his children's school, it took a long time for his plan to come to life but, was all worth it in the end.

Launch day and official opening on the 2/12/2015

1st from the right is Ken Wheeler, then Graham Heeley, David Sandle, then Gareth Hooper (the builder) then his partner (his Dad). Davids son Christian is first in from the far left.

David Sandles children go to Our Lady Of Compassion Primary School in Formby. David has recently applied and been successful in securing a £10,000 funding grant through his Company - DHL.

David said: "DHL are always looking to support good community initiatives and the CSR team (Corporate & Social Responsibility) is the team that I got involved with to deliver the funding through." He went on to say: "The process was quite lengthy and there were no guarantees that they would accept the funding application but, after a quite lengthy process, we were successful in securing the money for the School."

The official name is the 'DHL Transform It - UK Foundation' who funded the money. The CSR team, along with the School and the children chose to use the money to build a bicycle track for the kids to ride their bikes on.

"The track was built by a local builder who completed the work. This is something that will be there for years to come for generations of kids to enjoy who are in the School."

"There was a lengthy due diligence in place and some very strict guidelines we had to overcome to secure the funding, which I am glad to say was eventually approved and bought off which was absolutely fantastic news for me personally and the School."

Christian Sandle (David's son) was asked to cut the ribbon for the grand opening on the day which was really nice of the School.

David said "My other son Callum is in the School too and my 15 year old daughter also went to the School. So for me it was nice to be able to give something back to the School as all three of my children have been and are in the School."

The hard work, time and dedication that David has put into the funding process was definitly all worth while in the end. The grant for this project is the highest that has been paid out by DHL for a community project. The funding application was voted the best project that the foundation had ever had submitted which David said was particulary rewarding for him.

Here are some of the pictures from the project being built and the different stages of the plan which was started back in July and took two to three months to complete.