Press release
For immediate release:
100 GSK employees from all over Ireland to take part in ‘GSK
Wheelie Good Cause’ annual charity cycle in Barretstown, Co.
Kildare on 5th September
Funds raised go to Barretstown and The Irish Hospice
Foundation
100 employees of GSK in Ireland and their family members are gathering in Barretstown, Co.
Kildare on Saturday 5th September to take part in a charity cycle to raise funds for Barretstown
and The Irish Hospice Foundation, GSK’s Charity of the Year.
Now in its fourth year, the ‘GSK Wheelie Good Cause’ is an annual cycle which is open to all
employees across the four GSK locations in Dungarvan, Cork, Dublin and Sligo. Participants
can choose to cycle either 50km or 100km through Irish countryside.
The cyclists will leave Barretstown Castle, with those cycling 100km taking to the road at 11am,
while those cycling 50km, will take off at 12.30pm. Everyone is encouraged to come along and
cheer on the cyclists as they navigate the high-ways and by-ways of the region! A cheque
presentation will be made later that evening in Barretstown.
All funds raised go to Barretstown and The Irish Hospice Foundation. GSK have been long-term
supporters of Barretstown since the site first opened in 1994, while the Irish Hospice Foundation
was selected by GSK employees as the chosen GSK Charity of the Year 2015. So far this year,
GSK has provided more than €20,000 to the two charities, with each of GSK’s five individual
businesses in Ireland contributing to the total. GSK employees also have the opportunity to
share their expertise with Barretstown and The Irish Hospice Foundation through GSK’s
volunteer programme and support the charities in building organisational capabilities.
Aidan Lynch, General Manager for GSK Ireland said: “We’re looking forward to gathering at
Barretstown for our annual GSK Wheelie Good Cause cycle this year. For many years,
Barretstown has been close to our hearts in GSK and will provide a magical setting for our
annual cycle. Our employees relish the opportunities to work with amazing charities like
Barretstown and The Irish Hospice Foundation and we’re proud to continue this work.
As a science-led healthcare company, we have huge potential to help improve Irish people’s
health and well-being. Our ‘charity of the year’ initiative and annual cycle are just two of the
ways we focus on doing the right thing, putting patients first, supporting a healthy Ireland and
making a difference to the communities we work in.”
The Irish Hospice Foundation is a national charity dedicated to all matters
relating to dying, death and bereavement in Ireland. The IHF receives no core
Press release
funding from the state and therefore relies on the generosity of donations to
fund many services, including;
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Children’s Outreach Nurses, which means very ill children can be
cared for at home surrounded by the family.
Nurses for Night Care, which provides vital care and support to
patients with life limiting illnesses.
Training 3,000 people every year in providing bereavement support
Improving the environment in hospitals in which people die through
the Hospice Friendly Hospitals programme
Helen McVeigh, Corporate and Events Manager with the Irish Hospice Foundation,
commented “We are really looking forward to our second GSK Wheelie Good Cause, following
the success of the event in 2014. Having GSK as our Charity Partner this year and last has
given our fundraising a real boost with such invaluable support from one of the world’s leading
research-based pharmaceuticals and healthcare companies. Without the support of
organisations like GSK, we would be unable to continue our work as we strive for the best care
at end of life for people all across Ireland. So, I would like to thank all the GSK employees for
taking part and making such a difference.”
Barretstown is a specially-designed camp that provides therapeutic recreation programmes for
children with serious illnesses – primarily cancer and serious blood disease – from Ireland,
Britain and throughout Europe, and their families. Barretstown was founded by Hollywood actor
Paul Newman in 1994 and modelled on his renowned Hole in the Wall Gang Camp in
Connecticut, USA.
Dee Ahearn, CEO, Barretstown said: “We’re very excited to be the venue for this year’s Wheelie
Good Cause - an event I know many GSK employees look forward to each year. GSK and its
employees are active supporters of our work – they’re an example of a company that really
understand the importance of building happy, healthy communities. Days like today show that.
We’ve been working with GSK since the camp first opened 21 years ago, so many of the team
there are familiar faces at Barretstown. As always, it’s a pleasure to have them here – the
support they provide makes such a difference to what we’re able to achieve here in providing
support for children with serious illness and their families.”
Ends
About the Irish Hospice Foundation:
The Irish Hospice Foundation’s (IHF) vision is that no one should face death or bereavement without
the care and support they need.. Our works centres on improving access to hospice services,
building support for the hospice philosophy in all care settings and ensuring the continuous
development of high-quality care for people with life-limiting illness and their families, from initial
diagnosis through to bereavement.
For more information on our work see www.hospicefoundation.ie
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Press release
About Barretstown:
GSK – one of the world’s leading research-based pharmaceutical and healthcare companies –
is committed to improving the quality of human life by enabling people to do more, feel better
and live longer. For further information please visit www.gsk.com.
GSK in Ireland:
GSK’s Irish operations make an important contribution to our global business. We employ 1,500
people in four locations throughout the country. Our manufacturing sites in Cork, Dungarvan
and Sligo produce high quality products and distribute them through our global network. Our
Pharmaceuticals and Consumer Healthcare businesses provide a huge range of medicines,
vaccines and consumer products to Irish people.
– Approximately half of our Irish employees are based at our consumer healthcare
manufacturing site in Dungarvan where we produce ‘over-the-counter’ pharmacy
and oral care products including Panadol, Polygrip and NiQuitin.
– The next largest employee base is at our manufacturing site in Cork that produces
the active pharmaceutical ingredients for a range of GSK products used to treat
depression, diabetes, congestive heart failure, HIV, cancer, Parkinson’s disease
and arthritis.
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We also have a specialist manufacturing operation in Sligo – Stiefel a GSK
company - that produces skin healthcare products including Oilatum and
Physiogel.
The remaining employees work in our commercial operations in our consumer
healthcare and pharmaceutical businesses in Dublin.
For more information, please visit www.gsk.ie
Enquiries:
GSK in Ireland Media enquiries:
Claire Taaffe
Lisa Porter
086 8053251
087 7444067
Cautionary statement regarding forward-looking statements
GSK cautions investors that any forward-looking statements or projections made by GSK, including those made in this
announcement, are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those projected.
Such factors include, but are not limited to, those described under Item 3.D 'Risk factors' in the company's Annual Report on
Form 20-F for 2013.
Registered in Ireland:
GlaxoSmithKline (Ireland) Limited, a private company limited by shares, and a member of the GlaxoSmithKline group of companies. Registered in Ireland
with Company Number 15513.
Registered Office:
Stonemasons Way,
Rathfarnham,
Dublin 16,
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Ireland.
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