Last Friday, staff at two furniture industry organisations successfully completed a virtual bike ride from Lands End to John O’Groats (874 miles) in aid of their local hospice.

The challenge was launched by the Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Furniture Industry Group, Stephen McPartland MP, on Friday 12th July and over the past two weeks staff members from FIRA and The Furniture Ombudsman have taken turns to pedal on two exercise bikes in the office to raise money for Garden House Hospice.

FIRA’s Chief Operating Officer, Phil Reynolds, says: “We weren’t sure how long this challange would take, so to complete it in two weeks was great. I was really impressed with the dedication shown by staff members as the bike ride coincided with two weeks of unusually high temperatures, which made it very hard work. Congratulations go to Liz Stallman from our Testing department, who completed 91 miles on her own. As our nominated staff charity for 2013, I hope that we can continue to raise much needed funds to help support the great work the Garden House Hospice does.”

FIRA International is the world’s leading furniture technology centre and service provider to the furniture industry and its Stevenage headquarters is also home to The Furniture Ombudsman.