On Thursday the 14th of November, K2 hosted its annual social & networking event.
The aim of the evening is to take time out from the busy day job to spend time with clients and colleagues, take stock and celebrate the past year and listen to an inspirational guest speaker. Thank you to everyone who was able to attend.
The evening started with drinks, canapes and live music in the relaxed atmosphere and setting of the sumptuous Home House which offers a magical mix of 18th century splendour and 21st century avant garde.
The presentations began with a brief review of 2019 from Richard Rutledge, K2 Global Executive Director, and Rob McFarland, K2 Global Chief Operating Officer.
They were followed by Jamie Davis from K2’s nominated charity, The Rainbow Trust Children’s Charity, who announced that the latest K2 fundraising total is £55,000!
Then our guest speaker, Paralympic swimmer, Stephanie Millward MBE, captivated us with her inspiring and emotional personal story of triumph against the odds.
At age 16, Stephanie was the British 100m Backstroke swimming champion and within months of being selected for Team GB to compete at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games started to suffer unexplained symptoms. Six months later she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS), an incurable disease.
From this lowest point, which she endured both physically and mentally for an indescribably miserable eight years, she was forced to re-learn to move, walk and even talk. Encouraged to re-enter a swimming pool and, soon thereafter, to teach a friend to swim, she started swimming again and by the end of the same year she competed at the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games.
For the next eight years, she thrived competing in swimming championships all over the world, including the Paralympic Games at London 2012 where she won five medals and then at Rio 2016 where she fulfilled her ambition of winning two Paralympic gold medals, as part of another five-medal haul!
Stephanie is now an unfunded British swimmer, in full-time training, aiming to compete at her fourth Paralympic Games, Tokyo 2020. With incredible success at the recent World Championships (two gold medals in the 34 point relays and a fourth in the S9 100m backstroke) she is very much on target for Japan next year.
Aside from training, Stephanie dedicates her life to helping MS sufferers, supporting those with depression and other life-changing conditions and is the living embodiment that demonstrates the power of positivity.
The theme of her presentation was ‘Yes, I can’ and we all left believing we could!
If you would like to get involved and support Stephanie’s journey to the Tokyo Paralympics, please contact Nigel Laughton, her performance director, on nigel@nigellaughton.com for more information.
Thank you to all of our speakers, guests and K2 colleagues for an uplifting and fun evening.
View the event photo album.
