JOHN CAUDWELL

@johndcaudwell

PRESS RELEASE

February 19, 2013.

JOHN CAUDWELL HELPS BRING THE GIVING PLEDGE TO EUROPE.

Entrepreneur and philanthropist John Caudwell is amongst a handful of high-net-worth individuals to bring the life-changing Giving Pledge (www.thegivingpledge.org) to Europe.

John, who sold his telecommunications business for £1.5 billion in 2006, joins the likes of Bill Gates and Warren Buffett in pledging to donate significant tranches of their wealth to philanthropy - and collectively changing the lives of many generations to come.

"The Giving Pledge is a simple principle, a pledge for extremely wealthy people to give away the majority of their wealth during - or after - their lifetime to charitable causes," said John Caudwell.

"The collective worth of those committing to The Giving Pledge is hundreds of billions of dollars. That sort of resource can help countless millions of people.

"It is in the culture of north Americans  to adopt such an approach - that's where The Giving Pledge started and thrived - but I contacted Bill Gates about trying to drive such an approach in the UK and Europe, and this is our breakthrough.

"I've already discovered the pleasure of giving my wealth to worthy and charitable causes that genuinely make a difference to the lives of the least fortunate. Those of us who have yet to find philanthropy may find there is a far greater reward from it than from wealth creation.

"I will give away at least half my wealth during my lifetime and after my death. In the meantime I'll continue to grow my wealth as much as possible so that the amount I bequeath to charities and worthy causes can be as substantial as possible."

In 2006, John Caudwell sold his 10,000-employee mobile phone business, which included Phones 4u, for £1.5bn. John now concentrates on charitable and philanthropic work including Caudwell Children @caudwellkids.

@johndcaudwell

Ends

Further information:

Iain Macauley

im@pressrelations.co.uk

07788 978800

www.caudwell.com

www.caudwellchildren.com

www.thegivingpledge.org

EU REFERENDUM: CLEVER CAMERON STRATEGY, BUT WILL HE LET NEGOTIATIONS BUMP ALONG TO GAIN TORY ADVANTAGE?

JOHN CAUDWELL

@johndcaudwell

PRESS RELEASE

January 23, 2013.

EU REFERENDUM: CLEVER CAMERON STRATEGY, BUT WILL HE LET NEGOTIATIONS BUMP ALONG TO GAIN TORY ADVANTAGE?

Commenting on Prime Minister David Cameron's speech about a new treaty for Britain in the EU, entrepreneur and philanthropist John Caudwell said:

"David Cameron has been very clever - this is great manipulation of the British public on the back of a strategy which would actually be better for that British public anyway.

"I'm in complete agreement not to force an immediate split with Europe, but rather that terms are negotiated that would get the best for Britain out of the relationship with Europe but without us being exposed to the negative aspects.

"If we can arrive at that, then great - but I doubt David Cameron will get the outcome I, and many others, would be happy with.

"If we do get into a position with Europe which is acceptable to me, for one - and most probably the British public in general too - through some hard negotiation, then I'd be voting to stay in.

"But that negotiation needs a hardball approach to make Europe acceptable to Britons. I suspect David Cameron will be happy to let the negotiations bump along in time for a referendum mid next term of office.

"It's actually a pretty smart strategy to keep the Tories in power while appearing to do the best for Britain."

In 2006, John Caudwell sold his 10,000-employee mobile phone business, which included Phones 4u, for £1.5bn. John now concentrates on charitable and philanthropic work including Caudwell Children @caudwellkids.

@johndcaudwell

Ends

Further information:

Iain Macauley

im@pressrelations.co.uk

07788 978800

www.caudwell.com

HOLLYWOOD STAR EVA LONGORIA PRESENTS JOHN CAUDWELL WITH CHARITY "PHILANTHROPRENEUR" AWARD.

JOHN CAUDWELL
@johndcaudwell
PRESS RELEASE

December 10, 2012.

HOLLYWOOD STAR EVA LONGORIA PRESENTS JOHN CAUDWELL WITH CHARITY "PHILANTHROPRENEUR" AWARD.

Philanthropist and entrepreneur John Caudwell's two worlds merged on Saturday night when he was presented with The Noble Gift Philantrhropreneur Award by Hollywood star Eva Longoria.

John received the award at The Noble Gift Gala at ME London where other award winners included will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas.

"It's easy to get blinded by the fantasy and glamour of Hollywood and lose sight of reality. But the commitment of Eva Longoria in supporting and highlighting the efforts of myself and the other award winners illustrates that while Hollywood is largely completely lost in that fantasy and its own importance, there are a few shining lights who are deeply appreciative of the gritty reality of the tough challenges the massively less-fortunate face and overcome every day," said John Caudwell.

"Eva Longoria is one of those special people who recognise that charities face real battles - not just in addressing the challenges they commit to support, but also in driving an awareness of what they do, and consequently to raise even more funds and support.

"Yes, we had a great and glamourous evening, but the effect and influence of such events in bringing to the fore the plights and challenges of those in need should not be underestimated."

The Noble Gift Gala honours individuals who have impacted the world through their exceptional philanthropic work, and is a unique international fundraising gala initiative that brings together the worlds of business, celebrity and philanthropy to raise funds and awareness to fiscally responsible charities locally and internationally.

It works with fundraising organisations and charities including Make-A-Wish UK, The Eva Longoria Foundation, The Great Initiative, Seven Bar Foundation,  Fight for Life, and, most recently, Caudwell Children, a charity founded by John Caudwell, and which he continues to support.

Caudwell Children, which John founded in 2000, is so efficient that it converts every £1 raised into £2.08 to help desperately ill children and their families.

"It's a great honour to receive any award or recognition. But this is an award which in effect recognises the efforts philanthropists make the world over, and how charities and good causes embrace and direct donations and resources, in turn enabling them to make a huge difference to the lives of the vulnerable," said John Caudwell.

"But while I was delighted to accept the award, I must highlight the day-to-day efforts of the Caudwell Children team, and use this moment to emphasise the depth of the desperate plight of the children and families Caudwell Children tries to help."

Amongst others, John also supports the Elton John Aids Foundation, The Prince's Trust and the NSPCC, and was the principal donor to the Bomber Command Memorial in London.  John Caudwell is one of the UK's most successful entrepreneurs, having built and then sold  the Caudwell Group of telecoms businesses. The sale of the group, whose high street face was Phones 4u, realised £1.46 billion. Since the 2006 sale, John has concentrated on supporting various charities, but with a particular emphasis on Caudwell Children.

Other recipients of 2012 Noble Gift Awards: Mrs. Ella Krasner (NG Philanthropist Award), rap music star will.i.am (NG Humanitarian Award) and Mrs. Sylvie Young OBE (NG Wanson Award).  

Ends

Further information:

Iain Macauley

07788 978800

im@pressrelations.co.uk

www.caudwell.com

www.caudwellchildren.com

Lands End to John O'Groats

Twitter: @johndcaudwell

Photo's: http://flic.kr/s/aHsjAofJyf

Just Giving: http://www.justgiving.com/John-Caudwell

I thought Day 6 was by far possibly the worst cycling day I had ever endured in my life.  But, I was not prepared for what the final day had in store for me.  Only approximately 70 miles to do to get to the finish line, but took us around 9 hours to complete!

Again, the weather was against us from the moment we set out. The relentless rain, the cold strong biting head winds and the horrendous fog all conspired against us, setting us back hours.   It was a constant battle fighting against the weather.  Many times we just wanted to give up and surrender, but we were sponsored to do the entire distance and, in any event, failure is not a happy soul mate, so we pushed on through the pain and torture, and kept going yard after gruelling yard for the last agonising 15 miles.

Finally, we made it to the finish line - feeling mentally and physically destroyed, exhausted and battered from head to toe - our bodies in pain.  I truly hope that I don’t experience anything quite so close to my breaking point so many times in a week ever again.

To put it into perspective, 8 years ago we cycled from Athens to Stoke-on-Trent, did 125 miles each day for 17 days, experienced lots of traumas, breadowns and crashes, but nothing like the pain that we have just suffered.

I am not sure why it was so difficult, whether it is my age, whether it was because I had the flu two weeks before, whether it is the distance of 135 a day or whether it was the completely atrocious weather conditions.  Maybe it was all of these things just conspiring to be a bridge too far. 

As I sit here at my desk this morning writing this blog, feeling awful, the two consolations that I have are that one, we finished it and two, we raised a lot of money for Caudwell Children.

We are just so relieved to have achieved the goal we set out to do.  We definitely couldn’t have done it without our wonderful support team and the support of our friends, family and everyone who has followed us, especially those who have donated.  So, a huge thank you to you all, for really helping us through the emotionally lows.

Lands End to John O'Groats

Twitter: @johndcaudwell

Photo's: http://flic.kr/s/aHsjAofJyf

Just Giving: http://www.justgiving.com/John-Caudwell

Garmin - locate the riders: https://my.garmin.com/mygarmin/login.htm

Username: Landsend2012

Password: caudwellchildren

 

I have had thousands of fabulous days cycling in my life, with quite a few bad days and I think yesterday was by far possibly the worst ever! It was only 110 miles from Glencoe to Tain, we have been doing 20+ miles more than that on previous days, but against really heavy headwinds and with everybody in a state of exhaustion, it seemed much further.

Brian and I are still nursing extremely bad knees; and the pain now seems never ending.

Again, we didn’t arrive at the hotel until 11.30pm last night, having gone through about 5 hours of rain, with temperatures of 7 degrees. We were completely soaked, frozen through and absolutely exhausted!

The last day is going to be another hard day – we all just want to be at the finish now.

Lands End to John O'Groats

Twitter: @johndcaudwell

Photo's: http://flic.kr/s/aHsjAofJyf

Just Giving: http://www.justgiving.com/John-Caudwell

Garmin - John's personal history: Day 5 http://bit.ly/NcRtzM

Garmin - locate the riders: https://my.garmin.com/mygarmin/login.htm

Username: Landsend2012

Password: caudwellchildren

Yesterday we cycled 140 miles. Libby’s bike broke completely, so the support van had to turn around to bring us a spare bike. On top of this we were fighting against a strong, relentlesshead wind, making it one of the longest days so far. On the positive side, the weather did decide to support us, with the sun finally showing its face – I can tell you we needed this!

We had late afternoon tea at the Drovers Arms, a lovely pub filled with lots of character, which left us with 50 miles to do. However, after having two pints of beer, a plate of Haggis, liver, onions and mashed potatoes made it extremely difficult – possibly the worst nutrition we could have had for the road!

Richard our physio, decided to join us for a while, which was a lovely ride for him as the scenery was beautiful. However, for us it was still a huge struggle and we didn’t arrive at Glencoe until late evening, around 11.30pm!

At midnight, Brian approached me and thought it may be a good idea if we did the whole 200 miles today but, he obviously didn’t get the answer he wanted from me! Therefore, we are planning on completing just 120 miles – destination, just north of Inverness.

As you can imagine, we are all extremely exhausted, battered and our bodies are simply destroyed. Today (the penultimate day) is another fight as we need to keep up the pace, to ensure we meet the finish line on schedule.

Lands End to John O'Groats

Twitter: @johndcaudwell

Photo's: http://flic.kr/s/aHsjAofJyf

Just Giving: http://www.justgiving.com/John-Caudwell

Garmin - John's personal history: Day 4 http://bit.ly/Na667d

Garmin - locate the riders: https://my.garmin.com/mygarmin/login.htm

Username: Landsend2012

Password: caudwellchildren

We started off in glorious sunshine, which was unbelievable and a welcome change - we enjoyed  3 or 4 hours of it, as we climbed 1400ft to the top of Shap.

A guest rider joined us, Matt Moran, who initially only came to cycle an hour and we ended up persuading him to do 6 hours! The weather soon turned against us and we had 3 hours of pouring rain. Once again, we were getting drenched! At this point I’m sure Matt then regretted joining us.

After lunch, we had 65 miles remaining to end up in Sanquhar. A total of 145 miles that day!

Partly due to sitting on the saddle for so many hours, day after day, and partly due to all the wet and rain we have been enduring - getting soaked wet through - the nappy rash is getting worse for everybody. It has become agony just to even sit on the seat! It’s not as bad as it sounds because after the first 30 minutes of pedalling, it goes numb. The problem is if you stop for a rest, it comes back to life and the pain starts all over again.

It really has turned out to be the biggest challenge.  A constant race battling against the clock makes it only just borderline possible.

Yesterday, a typical day, up at 6am, on the road for 7.30am and arrived at the hotel for 9pm. Had a quick bath, quick dinner, quick massage and then organised everything for the following day, charging Garmins, phones, cameras, computers, route plan and finally bed for 12.30am. On top of all this I’m getting no sleep as I am so wound up, “I’m cycling all through the night” - I just wish I could add those miles into reality!

Why so long on the road? With a group of 7 people, there is always somebody with a new injury, a back spasm or a breakdown and yesterday we had, failed gears, bad knees, back and ankle problems, etc etc.  Combining all these vital stops with a lunch break just continually conspires to keep us on the road.

There has been a time or two when I have felt my knees were just going to become so painful that I might have to give up, but somehow a combination of heat rub, massage and ibuprofen, up to yet, has kept me going! I do now think that they will last the distance, since each day they seem to cycle through the pain and gradually improve before getting worse again.

Today we are heading towards Fort William, although we all will probably finish somewhere south of there.