Caple’s service director Richard Wood has had to learn how to swim to help raise funds for BEWT – The Billie Elizabeth Wood Trust – to safely take part in the charity’s latest fundraising challenge. Richard and his family founded BEWT to fund research into the trauma that led to his daughter Billie’s tragic death, when she passed away at just 25 years old in May 2020 after she suffered a subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH*).

Billie was Caple’s managing director Danny Lay and financial director Graham Perry’s niece and the granddaughter of their chairman, Maurice Lay. BEWT is Caple’s official charity and the brand has supported several initiatives established by the Trust to raise both funds and awareness in loving memory of Billie including the latest fundraising event, the Thames Rowing Challenge, which will take place in June. Richard explains: “Caple is a family business and, as such, the company is fully committed to supporting and promoting this charity as its cause.”

Over five days, Billie’s family and friends, including Caple’s managing director, Danny Lay, will row 85 miles along the Thames in four vintage skiffs from Clifton Hampden (Clifton Lock) to Walton Bridge (Shepperton Lock). Service director Richard has no rowing experience and he explains: “We will be on the water for a number of days and I was never taught to swim as a child so I’ve been learning how to master front crawl and breaststroke in weekly lessons with a fitness instructor. I just need to be able to get to the side of the Thames if I need to!”  

Caple’s service director Richard is currently learning how to swim to safely take part in this challenge
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Please support the Thames Rowing Challenge team if you can by making a donation here. And, for more details on Richard’s preparations leading up to the Thames Rowing Challenge, please read our latest blog here.

*SAH: A subarachnoid haemorrhage is a form of stroke in which bleeding occurs into the fluid-filled space surrounding the brain (called the subarachnoid space) and it’s a medical emergency where approximately 35% of patients with a subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) die within three months and more than 50% of survivors make an incomplete recovery according to Macdonald RL Schweizer TA – Spontaneous subarachnoid haemorrhage. Lancet. 2017; 389: 655-666.