KCOM puts its best foot forward for STEPtember

KCOM engineers are putting their best foot forward this month as they attempt to walk 10 million steps for charity.

More than 200 engineers from the Hull-based broadband provider are striding out to take the STEPtember challenge, which will see them attempt the walk the equivalent of 5,000 miles to raise money for the Brain Tumour Research charity.

John Teasdale, Head of Network Delivery at KCOM said: “This is a fantastic event to be part of and I’m delighted that my KCOM colleagues are putting their best foot forward for this excellent cause. We have a big step count to reach but I know we can make it if we all pull together, like we always do at KCOM when we have a challenge to face. KCOM engineers will be joined by Ricoh team members who have joined KCOM recently to help deliver our copper to fibre network upgrade and delivering land line fibre adapters across the region.”

Colin Sneddon, MD of KCOM Wholesale, who is taking part in the challenge, has a very personal reason for taking part in STEPtember after recovering from a brain tumour himself two years ago.

He said: “As well as helping our teams to get fighting fit, they’ll also be raising money for Brain Tumour Research, a great charity that’s raising much-needed funds to fight an often overlooked disease.

Colin is also urging people to sign a petition by Brain Tumour Research asking the Government to ring-fence £110 million of current and new funding to kick-start an increase in the national investment in brain tumour research to £35 million a year by 2028.

He said: “Research into brain tumours receives just one per cent of national funding into cancer research despite the fact that it kills more children and adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer. We need 100,000 names on the petition by the end of October to get a parliamentary debate on the issue and hopefully help secure funding that will save many lives. It would be absolutely brilliant if the people of Hull and East Yorkshire would spare a few minutes to help us reach this petition target.”

It takes around 2,000 average steps to walk a mile - meaning 10 million steps is the equivalent of 5,000 miles – which means KCOM engineers are going to have to get their walking boots on between house calls and network upgrades while also record all the steps they’re taking.

If you would like to sponsor the engineers taking part you can donate here at the team’s Just Giving page.

You can sign the Brain Tumour Research petition here.

For more information about Brain Tumour Research charity visit www.braintumourresearch.org