Petrofac Staff Raise £20,000 for Cystic Fibrosis

Staff at Petrofac have raised more than £20,000 in support of the Cystic Fibrosis Trust - and they are not even halfway through their fundraising yet.

Staff attending the annual dinner dance held at the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre raised more than £6,000 for the company’s chosen ‘Charity of the Year’, bringing the total since May 2012 to more than £20,000.

Bill Dunnett, Managing Director, Petrofac Offshore Projects & Operations said: “This has been a tremendous effort by Petrofac staff.

“Petrofac supports many good causes but the important thing about our Charity of the Year is that it belongs to our staff. Although the Company contributes, the cause is nominated by staff themselves, who then come up with ways to support it throughout the year and raise the money themselves. They’ve done this not just through buying tickets for the dinner dance but by coming up with and taking part in a whole range of communal and individual fundraising activities too.

“So it’s testament to the dedication and generosity of people both in the office and offshore that we’ve been able to raise so much so far. For the first time we’re going to carry this activity through into a second year and the challenge now for us all is to raise even more in year two.”

Other fundraising activities have included a staff summer barbecue, office raffle and ‘Petrofactor’, a version of the popular TV talent show X-factor. Activities already planned for this year include a quiz night and a dedicated ‘CF Week’ in June with a variety of events.

Cystic Fibrosis affects about 10,000 children and adults in the UK. It causes the internal organs, especially the lungs and digestive system, to become clogged with thick sticky mucus, resulting in chronic infections and inflammation of the lungs.

David Reid, Facilities Manager at the Bridge View office, Aberdeen, who has the condition, says that this contribution will help the Trust hugely: “The Trust aims to help people with CF live longer and better lives. So the money we raise will go towards ground-breaking research, but also help fund specialist care, advice and a whole range of services that make a big difference to people living with CF and their families. I’d like to give a big thank you for the efforts so far.”

Over the past ten years the Cystic Fibrosis Trust has invested more than £30m in gene therapy research which aims to treat CF in the lungs by replacing the faulty copy of the CF gene with a healthy one.