Newcastle and Newport's Food Filled Fun

We've got news just in from Newcastle AND Newport about their tempting foodie treats served up on the same day - 23rd May...

[caption id="attachment_3051" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Newcastle House's Chris Christie (HR Admin), Fred Napier (Day Packline Manager) and Kevin Graham (Day Packline Supervisor) trying to decide what to have from the tempting selection[/caption]

Distribution Manager Carol Inglis,  arranged a cake/bake sales day as part of Newcastle House's regular activities designed to help their local Marie Curie Hospice. Around 50 people took part and a magnificent total of £74.50 was raised.

Over at Newport tasty breakfast rolls were on the menu, personally made by Kevin Clarke (Newport Group Manager) for Phil Adams, (Southern Regional Director) plus all the Southern Region House Managers, and served up at their regional meeting.

Kevin had taken orders beforehand and the fillings ranged from just bacon to bacon, sausage, egg and mushrooms.  They must have been a big hit to raise such a large amount of money - £100.  Unfortunately we couldn’t get a photo of him in his pinny.

Kevin's efforts were in support of Newport's two From S to N cyclists, Chris Benger and Caleb Needham. I wonder if he'll give them a good start by providing a substantial breakfast when they set off on their ride? ;)

Cracking Toast Gromit!

[caption id="attachment_2755" align="alignleft" width="224"] Now, where's that nice bit of Wensleydale...[/caption]

2012 saw the launch of Wallace & Gromit’s Big Breakfast. Taking place nationally between 20th-27th April, the event aims to raise funds for sick children in hospitals and hospices across the UK.

On Monday 23rd April between 8am and 10am the Wakefield House Community Committee opened up their very own ‘Wallace’s Toast Bar’ in the Wakefield House kitchen. There was toast (of course), along with a number of toppings such as butter, jam, peanut butter and chocolate spread - mmm. But they didn’t stop there – there was also a selection of other breakfast favourites on offer, such as muffins, croissants and crumpets, as well some amazing home-made goodies.

[caption id="attachment_2756" align="alignright" width="224"] The trolley loaded for action[/caption]

A donation of £1 per visit to the breakfast bar was required, and we also did our best to fill our ‘Big Breakfast Tea-Pot’ with as much loose change as possible (every little helps!)

Rachel Cook said:

‘’We were amazed at the response to our BIG Breakfast Toast Bar. We were busy all morning and learnt a lot about people’s preferred breakfasts! It seems we have a lot of marmite lovers in the office, with that being the favourite topping – closely followed by good old strawberry jam, and unusually our ‘popping candy’ chocolate spread! Mmmmmm’’

Later on, a trolley was loaded with goodies to do the rounds to make sure no-one was left out. A cracking total of £104.97 was raised as a result :)

Breakfast Butties Go Down Well

[caption id="attachment_2650" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Kelly gets stuck in!"][/caption]

Hurrah, the first sighting this year of the ever popular Breakfast Buttie event has been spotted by Kelly Leech at Brislington. She reports:

Maria Newport – Brislington Group SAP HR Admin cooked up a storm recently in Brislington, providing sausage and bacon rolls for the workers, all monies raised are going towards ‘Cots for Tots’ appeal at the local St Michael’s hospital.

 £181 was raised over two days and more bacon butty days are scheduled for the future.

Looks yummy and I'm feeling hungry now!

More biking at Manchester

Manchester House have also been getting in on the bike action, holding a challenge on a stationary bike during Community Week. They also held a car wash, a raffle and sold breakfast and lunch, making a grand total for the week of £307 raised.

[caption id="attachment_1171" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Caroline and Steve from Manchester get pedalling"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1172" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Alan and Steve car washing at Manchester"][/caption]

Pooh Bear seen at Hammersmith

Hammersmith House raised a brilliant £140 by holding  a raffle and a breakfast morning.  They will be supporting the British Heart Foundation with the money raised.

It seems as though their choice of prize for the raffle proved popular...

Management on breakfast duty

Croydon management team Mike Moore, Lynda Beckett and Chin Chung got their pinnies on and made breakfast for the night team, to raise money for Community Week.  Their skills in the kitchen must be good - they've raised £90 so far with more money coming in.

Wednesbury Group Update

My but they're busy in the Wednesbury Group, raising money for Community Week.  As well as the forthcoming Fete mentioned earlier, they've also started a Wii Ten Pin Bowling competition, running from 16 May to 1 July.

It is £1 per game to enter the competition and the players with the 4 highest scores will go into a semi-final playoff.  The games take place in the canteen, where their newly purchased TV is now hooked up to a Wii.  I'm sure the competition will be tough, as the winner will get to take home the Wii plus the bowling game!

They've also held a car boot sale, sponsored swim, an 'Oatcakes Morning' - bit different from 'Bacon Buttie Breakfast!, a car wash and plenty more events in the pipeline over the coming months.

Plymouth Playoffs

[caption id="attachment_707" align="alignleft" width="280" caption="Chris Hulme, team captain, raising the cup, with Dave Murphy, Exeter Manager and ref for the day to the left."][/caption]

Passionate footie fans in the Plymouth Group were on the ball recently with their fundraising activities for Community Week.  They held a five-a-side football tournament which went down a storm, and raised over £150 for local charities St Luke's Hospice and Children's Hospice South West.

All staff pitched in to help organise the tournament, and 30 people took part in the competition, divided into six teams.  It took place at the Mayflower Centre and was well attended.  Teams included representatives from Twilight, Days, Agency and Managers, so good participation all round.

Sue Lamming, Community Champion for the Group said:

“This event whipped up a frenzy amongst staff, worse than when the landlord calls last orders at the pub!!!  The pre match game had the air positively electric with friendly banter.  The guys all took it very seriously and two teams had t-shirts printed especially for the tournament.

A lot of staff brought their families on the day to witness the event .  The Managers team lost 0-13 in a 20 minute match! One game had to be decided by penalties and each game was fought till the last whistle.  In the end, after some fierce competition, it was the Day Pack team who were the ones who walked away with the trophy, donated by local company Trophy Man. 

There were a number of sore joints and aching bones post-match, with the oldest goalie (Malcolm) having a bruise the length of his arm. However he was part of the winning team and stopped enough goals to help the lads win. 

It was a good fun day that can be highly recommended.   The next day the guys were still buzzing - nothing like a good sporting activity to build a bond with the staff.”

Plymouth have also been busily holding cake sales every Friday – with a ‘breakfast sale’ thrown in one Friday for a change of pace.  These cake sales have been so popular that they’ve started to take pre-orders!  There is also a car boot sale and a pool tournament on the horizon, so we look forward to hearing how those go.

Scott Luscombe in goal with Malcolm McCormack taking a penalty