Big-hearted broadband engineer scales new heights to answer charity call
A Coventry broadband engineer is swapping the information superhighway for the hills of Yorkshire – but it’s all for a great cause.
Damian Woolliscroft, who works for Openreach, is taking part in a gruelling 100 kilometre trek in aid of Blind Veterans Charity UK on June 17.
The charity is important to Damian because he served in the Army for seven years.
Damian, who is based in Little Park Street, will be joined on the trek by two former Army colleagues, and has the backing of his wife Tricia and sons, James, aged 12 and Rhys, nine, who join him for short training walks.
Damian, aged 43, who joined Openreach nearly three years ago, said: “My day job involves working with the engineers rolling out superfast broadband around the UK - helping to plan the network that they then build to give more communities access to this important technology. I can’t promise my trek will be superfast, but I’m determined to finish it as quickly as I can!
“My colleagues at Openreach and BT have been really supportive – here in the Midlands but also abroad - with donations coming in from as far afield as Singapore!
“My family know it will be a tough challenge for me because I’ll be walking non-stop over 24 hours, but they’re very supportive.
“It’s fairly flat where I live, so I’ve taken myself off to Derbyshire and South Yorkshire as part of my training.”
Openreach is the local network business which is part of BT Group.
Damian’s challenge starts and finishes at Darley Memorial Hall.
During his spell with the Army he served in the Royal Logistics Corp, mainly based in Germany, with tours in Bosnia and Northern Ireland.
Damian, from Northampton, is no stranger to supporting good causes – whilst working for an animal welfare charity, he posed naked for their fund-raising calendar.
Anyone wishing to sponsor Damian can do so via his charity website:https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/damianwoolliscroft
More information about the Blind Veterans Charity UK 100k Trek is available by logging onto: - https://www.blindveterans.org.uk/100k
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Issued by the regional press office. For more information please contact Emma Tennant on 0800 085 0660 or email: emma.tennant@bt.com
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About Openreach
Openreach is the UK’s leading digital infrastructure provider.
Its 32,000 employees are responsible for building and maintaining millions of miles of fibre and copper cables that connect every home and business in the UK to local telephone exchanges. Openreach operates and maintains this network to deliver a range of wholesale services for more than 580 retail providers, who in-turn provide telephony, broadband, TV and data services to more than 30 million consumer and business customers throughout the country.
Openreach is a highly regulated business, with more than 90 per cent of its revenues generated from services that are regulated by Ofcom. Any company can access its products under exactly the same prices, terms and conditions.
Over the last decade, Openreach has invested more than £10bn into its network and is currently building the UK’s largest fibre broadband footprint. This technology is available to more than 26 million homes and businesses, with tens of thousands more gaining access each week.
Openreach is a wholly owned and independently governed division of the BT Group. For the year ended 31 March 2017, it reported revenues of £5.1bn.
For more information, visitopenreach.co.uk
About BT
BT’s purpose is to use the power of communications to make a better world. It is one of the world’s leading providers of communications services and solutions, serving customers in 180 countries. Its principal activities include the provision of networked IT services globally; local, national and international telecommunications services to its customers for use at home, at work and on the move; broadband, TV and internet products and services; and converged fixed-mobile products and services. BT consists of six customer-facing lines of business: Consumer, EE, Business and Public Sector, Global Services, Wholesale and Ventures, and Openreach.
For the year ended 31 March 2017, BT Group’s reported revenue was £24,062m with reported profit before taxation of £2,354m.
British Telecommunications plc (BT) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of BT Group plc and encompasses virtually all businesses and assets of the BT Group. BT Group plc is listed on stock exchanges in London and New York.
For more information, visit www.btplc.com
