THEY HAVE WALKED the distance of Land’s End to John O’Groats, climbed the height of Mount Everest four times and cycled the equivalent of five Tour de Frances.
The colleagues, customers and suppliers of Selco Builders Warehouse are celebrating scaling the fundraising heights by breaking through the £500,000 barrier for Cancer Research UK.
The leading builders merchant passed through the milestone after just two-and-a-half years of raising funds for the charity and is continuing to support Cancer Research UK throughout 2025.
As part of the fundraising, Selco’s colleagues have achieved some incredible statistics by completing a range of daunting challenges.
These include collectively climbing more than 38,000 m, walking 1.7 million steps and cycling over 11,000 miles.
All the money raised by Selco over the period has been donated to Cancer Research UK to help fund vital research by scientists, doctors and nurses in the quest to help beat cancer.
The fundraising has seen Selco colleagues, customers and suppliers take part in a host of in-store events, golf days, runs, bike rides and abseiling challenges, amongst other activities.
Colleagues and customers also donated more than 1,000 bags of clothes and household items to Cancer Research UK to sell in its outlets across the country in 2024, an initiative which is also continuing this year.
Selco chief executive Frank Elkins said: “It’s been a phenomenal effort from the entire Selco family.
“For everyone to join forces to raise such an incredible amount of money is testament to how much the charity has been taken to the hearts of all associated with Selco.
“All of us have, in one way or another, been touched by cancer in our lives and the work Cancer Research UK does to find a solution to this horrible disease is inspiring. We are honoured to have played a part in providing the funding to allow the doctors, scientists and nurses to continue their outstanding work — and we look forward to carrying on with our support throughout the rest of this year.”
Selco’s donation of £500,000 can be invested in numerous different routes by Cancer Research UK.
Such a total can be used to support Dr Marco Bezzi for three years as he works to understand how prostate cancer evolves to develop resistance to treatment and designing therapies to tackle it.
Alternatively, the money could be used to fund the work of Prof Richard Grundy in Birmingham, leading a major trial to improve survival for children with a rare type of brain tumour known as ependymoma.
Jayna Kawa, relationship manager at Cancer Research UK, said: “Selco have been wonderful supporters of Cancer Research UK and to achieve a fundraising figure of £500,000 in two-and-a-half-years is phenomenal. We are thrilled that the partnership is continuing in 2025.
“Selco received a Special Commendation in our recent Flame of Hope Awards and that recognition couldn’t have been any more deserved as they have been one of the most impactful corporate relationship partners across Cancer Research UK.
“Everyone associated with the company approaches the fundraising with complete commitment and we are hugely grateful to the support Selco provides which will make a massive difference to the work and research our teams can carry out.”
With hundreds of trade brands always in stock, Selco’s 75 UK stores are firmly focused on helping tradespeople complete their jobs as quickly and effectively as possible.
See page 10 of our June/July 2025 issue on our Back Issues page.
