City Links Chris Pearce dresses up to help Make A Wish Found

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When Chris Pearce's colleagues dared him to dress up as an Oompa Loompa he decided to take up their challenge and raise money for charity at the same time.

Now with their help he has raised almost £800 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, which helps dreams come true for terminally ill children.

Chris, a father-of-two who lives in Nuneaton, is 5ft 6in tall. He said on many occasions his friends and colleagues at City Link's Coventry Hub, on the Middlemarch Business Park, have joked with him about his height. But when they dared him to dress up as an Oompa Loompa - one of the characters from children's favourite Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - he accepted their challenge in the name of a good cause.

Chris, who is Operations Manager at the Hub, said: "It started off as a joke really between me and three others - Brian Hadley, James Villiers and Christian Perkins.

"It went on for a while but then I thought it would be a great fundraising venture. So I agreed to dress up as an Oompa Loompa as long as we could get £200. Make-A-Wish® is City Link's nominated charity for the second year running and it seemed an ideal way to raise some money.

"So they did all the collecting. And it very quickly reached £600 and kept going. When I saw how supportive everyone was I thought it had to be done.

"It was a bit of a long night when I worked the shift as an Oompa Loompa. It was quite funny actually as on the way to work I was getting so many looks, and people beeping, that I drove to our Depot instead - it's a lot closer to home - and got a lift from there. It was well worth it though."

Stuart Godman, Managing Director of City Link, added: "Our congratulations to Chris and all the team and drivers at Coventry who helped raise this fantastic sum of money. This is the second year running that City Link has supported Make-A-Wish®. Our employees up and down the country have been deeply touched by the plight of these children and their families and I am proud of the way they are keen to dig into their pockets to do what they can to help."

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