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Posted on by Deeside College | Leave a comment
Deeside College Principal, David Jones, has donated £500 to the college’s adopted charity for 2011-2012, Cancer Research UK, as a “charge” for sending so many emails when he was recently recovering after orthopaedic surgery.
“The idea was raised in jest by two of my colleagues, Karen Senior and Diane Martin”, said David. “I had some quite major neck surgery at Gobowen at the end of November 2011 and had to be off work for a few months. I started emailing staff within hours of my operation, so they suggested that I make a donation to the charity for every email, hoping it would stop me.”
This plan clearly didn’t work, as David sent 1,339 emails during his “absence” from work. At a notional cost of 25 pence per email, this came to £334.75, and David decided to round it up to £500.
Karen Senior, Student Services Manager and Charity Co-ordinator at Deeside College said, “David has a reputation for being a bit of a workaholic and we thought the threat of paying for his emails might slow him down, reduce his emails and help his recovery. Clearly we were wrong, but we are very pleased that he has made this personal donation to our charity. David has always been a massive supporter of our charities at Deeside College, and we have raised a total of over £197,500, since he became our Principal in 2004. David has also run the London Marathon and actively participated in many other challenging events during this time”.
“Staff and students right across the Deeside College group of Colleges, at Llysfasi, Northop, Wrexham Training and Connah’s Quay continue to astound me with their energy and generosity in aid of our charities”, added David, “so at a time when so many of them have gone the “extra mile” for our charity, raising over £25,000 in the Autumn Term alone, I thought it was only right that I make a contribution to recognise their efforts and match just some of their commitment. Cancer Research UK is such an important charity, as, unfortunately, cancer touches so many people’s lives. I was very pleased to make the donation, and grateful to Karen and Di for such a good idea”.
David has now recovered from his surgery, and returned to work in mid-January.