£38k raised for charity at Opus Energy sponsored race day

Sept. 25, 2012 - PRLog -- Opus Energy - a business-to-business energy supplier - was proud to sponsor an adrenalin-fuelled charity horse race last week, which helped to raise £38,000 for motor neurone disease charity, the Heaton-Ellis Trust.

The Heaton-Ellis Charity race day was held on Friday 21st September 2012 at Newbury Racecourse in Berkshire. Opus Energy’s sponsored race – the Opus Energy Handicap Stakes - saw the W J Haggas trained Jawhar, ridden by Paul Hanagan, win the race after picking up its pace in the final 100 yards.

Opus Energy’s sponsorship of the event helped to raise £38,000 for the Heaton-Ellis Trust. The money will be used by the Trust to fund research into discovering causes and cures for motor neurone disease, led by Professor Christopher Shaw at King’s College London.

Charlie Crossley Cooke, Managing Director of Opus Energy, said: “After the success of the Opus Energy sponsored charity shooting events for the Heaton-Ellis Trust over the last two years, we were keen to show our continued support of the charity by sponsoring today’s event. The Opus Energy Handicap Stakes was thrilling to watch. I’d like to congratulate the connections and also thank Newbury Racecourse for hosting the event.”

The Heaton-Ellis Trust was formed shortly before David Heaton-Ellis died of motor neurone disease in 2009, a year after being diagnosed with the disease. Sophie Heaton-Ellis, a Trustee of the charity, commented: “On behalf of the Trust, we thank Opus Energy for all their financial support in helping us come closer to our aim of raising £1 million. The money means that the team at King’s College can devote their time to researching motor neurone disease, instead of spending time and money on raising funds.”

Speaking at the event, Professor Christopher Shaw said: “We are extremely grateful for the funds raised by The Heaton-Ellis Trust. These have been used to drive forward our research on motor neurone disease at unprecedented speed.”