A Week For Children in Need

[caption id="attachment_7346" align="alignleft" width="300"] NAC and BLS staff had their own version of a "bush tucker trial" with the Feel the Object competition[/caption]

For Children In Need, the NAC held a number of activities which raised almost £180.00 for the charity. As usual, BLS also took part in the fun!

Tina Cronin, Jackie Atkinson, Andrea Briggs, Vicky Rhodes put their thinking caps on to devise a whole week of activities from 11th to 15th November. Jackie reports:

"Tina organised a name the bear competition which raised £60, a great start.

As well as a fun quiz on Friday afternoon, Jackie organised a guess the toddler photo competition which raised some laughs. It’s amazing how you can see features in photographs that you can recognise in people 50 years later.

Andrea had great fun in putting together a feel the objects competition for staff to take part in on Friday afternoon. All the objects were either food or from the kitchen, including things like coconut, tomatoes, radishes and Weetabix. It was very amusing to watch the horror on people’s faces as they put their hands into the unknown boxes and the relief when they realised the contents weren’t alive.

As always we had a few food activities as well, Mo Uddin brought us some of his home-made curries and starters to buy for lunch whilst Mumtaz Sultan kindly brought in some of her home baking for us to sample as well. Both were very much appreciated by the always hungry NAC staff and of course helped towards our overall fundraising total as well."

Fantastic news, thanks Jackie. That makes a combined total (along with Monday's report) of £549.37.

We Haz Plans...

We have news of a couple of plans for this year's Charity Fundraising.



Firstly, we have a sneak preview of the provisional plan The Consortium has mapped out for their fundraising activities in Trowbridge this year :)

This year they're raising funds to support the West Wiltshire Special Needs Activity Scheme and have a number of events planned for the whole of 2013.

Completed

• January – The Consortium presented a cheque for £12,132.77 to Wiltshire Air Ambulance, their chosen good cause for 2012


• February – TV Raffle (and many other prizes!) raised a massive £460


• 15^th March – Comic Relief – raised £237

The raffle and Comic Relief fundraising were both held as 'cross-site' events, involving The Consortium's Trowbridge and Shrewsbury sites.

To Come

• April – Grand national sweepstake


• 21^st April – Kim Valentine runs the London Marathon (again!)


• 14^th May – Quiz Night held at the Wesley Road Club in Trowbridge


• September – The Consortium Annual Golf Day


• 28^th September - Macmillan Coffee Morning and the annual Golden Spoon competition


• September / October – Race Night


• 25^th October – Wear it Pink day


• December – Christmas Raffle

There's plenty going on at The Consortium in 2013! We look forward to seeing more news and pictures as each event happens :)

Secondly Terri Baylis at Rowan House has given us news of her revised plans for her walk set for June in aid of CLIC. She originally was going to tackle 25 miles of the scenic Jurassic Coast and now...

I’ve updated my JustGiving page - we’re now walking the Ridgeway between Avebury & Streatley on 14-15^th July, which is around 40 miles over the two days.

Thanks for the update Terri - I see you've added quite a few miles to your proposed walk!

Do you or your area have a fundraising plan this year? Do let us know what you have in store... and don't forget it may also provide an opportunity for a wider Link-Up with your colleagues, suppliers or customers in some way!

Eugene's Final Countdown For Paris

[gallery type="rectangular" link="post" ids="5339,5342,5341"]

Eugene Howson, Distribution Manager at London Travel News (LTN) will be running in the Paris Marathon (26.2 miles) this Sunday (7th April).

But that’s not all. As reported previously he's been preparing for the big event by running a couple of half marathons! In addition he ran from Slough to Reading on a home run and challenged colleagues to guess how long it would take. Eugene explains:

"I've been following a strict 12 week training plan which included daily jogging and also a few competitive half marathons.

• Bath on March 3^rd- I was pleased with the time- my chip time was 1:35:36, it was a good run and it’s beneficial to be competitive to improve fitness levels.


• Reading on March 17^th- It was cold and wet, not ideal running conditions, but I improved the time – my chip time was 1:34:06

My fund raising pledge is £1000 and it would be great to achieve this target and make an incredible difference to Stroke care. I've have received tremendous support from family, friends and work colleagues in order to reach my pledge."

[gallery type="rectangular" link="post" ids="5344,5343,5340"]

"To help reach my target, I've also held the following events:

• Digital Camera Raffle - in February the London Travel Team held a Raffle, £1 a ticket to win a stylish digital camera. This event raised £85 and the winning ticket belonged to Roy Heavens, Night Driver at LTN.


• Pool Competition - during February/March, the warehouse teams arranged a knock out Pool challenge, 50p a game. To add to the fun, there was a further sweepstake (£1 a tote) to bet against the eventual winner. This has proved to be a good fund raiser which has already raised £125, and has helped build team camaraderie, with staff mixing between departments.


• Cake & Curry Day - The LTN Team held a cake and curry day on Friday 22^nd March. Everyone at LTN joined in the feast and the curry’s sold out within the hour. The staff generally appreciated the effort made by those who cooked and baked, and commented that it should be done on a monthly basis! This event raised £76.


• Guess the ‘Home’ Run - as part of my training, I decided to plan a final long run, and came up with the idea to run from work to home (Slough to Reading) a distance of 21 miles. I challenged everyone to guess how long it would take (£1 a guess); the winner to receive 25% of the pot with tins of Quality Streets as runners-up prizes for 2^nd & 3rd. 

The challenge form was circulated amongst the Eastern Regional Managers meeting, Borehamwood Group and LTN teams. Guesses ranged from 1 hour, 8 hours, 2 days and never (these were the comedians!)

It was one of those days where the weather kept changing. The first 6 miles was dry, but when I got to 10 miles it started to snow, and then the weather turned to sleet and rain. I hit the ‘wall’ at 20 miles and slowed his pace, and finished in a time of 2:34:26

The winning guesses, were joint winners Kam Patel (Borehamwood) and Mike Doyle (Peterborough) who both guessed 2:35:00. This event raised £100.

The team in Borehamwood have supported me along the way, and have made a donation of £200. To date staff at LTN Group have raised an amazing £417 and this is still on-going."

Fantastic Eugene, thanks for the update and photos! Eugene has a Just Giving page, and the current donations total £1,232, smashing his target!. The support is really valued and appreciated. All monies raised will go to the Stroke Association.

He adds, "My training is going to plan and everyone is being really supportive - my personal thanks to all."

Good luck for Sunday, Eugene - here's to a great time and atmosphere in Paris!

Bertrams Staff Get Quizzical

[caption id="attachment_3699" align="alignleft" width="199"] Kirsty McLaren with her limited edition Philippa Gregory novel[/caption]

The Marketing and Bibliographic teams at Bertrams ensured their colleagues were thoroughly flummoxed for the whole of June when they devised a fiendish quiz to test their general knowledge.

Participants were invited to buy copies of the quiz, comprising questions on the following topics: Sport (not your normal sport fare, mind – the first question concerned bog snorkelling!); Literature (including a Norwich-specific question); History; Music & Pop Culture (which revealed what subject Kermit the Frog has an honorary degree in); Science; and a good old Picture Round.

Winners were announced on Thursday, 5^th of July. The prizes included Hunger Games goodies, Lego sets, a box of Belgian beer, a case of wine (won by Marketing’s Frances Staton who got 95/100), a limited edition Philippa Gregory novel (won by Bertrams’ Kirsty McLaren who also got

[caption id="attachment_3700" align="alignright" width="199"] Malcolm Aitchison with some very special whisky[/caption]

95/100) and a very special 20-year-old bottle of Highland Park whisky (won by a pleased-looking Malcolm Aitchison, who works in Stock Replenishment, and who got 97/100).

People were very pleased, if not a little flummoxed, by the quiz, and another round is promised for next year by the organisers, Stephanie Sykes and Gareth Evans.

£144 was raised for Priscilla Bacon Lodge, which specialises in palliative care in Norwich. Several charities were nominated and this received the most votes as people wanted to support a local charity.

Game On!

[caption id="attachment_3453" align="alignleft" width="640"] The team's all set  - Steve is pictured on the right[/caption]

Steve Main, Group Support Manager at Reading House is organising a 24-hour Dartathlon, which takes place next weekend (13-14th July 2012).

As he explains on his donation page:

A group of 20 Darts Players, including myself, from the West Oxfordshire Darts League, will be playing darts for 24 hours in Aid of Help for Heroes.

We will be playing winner stays on over 4 dart boards. Those not playing at any given time will be officiating on the games in progress.

We will be playing within teams, for individual and team most wins, most points scored, most 180's and highest finish.

The event will be held at the Red Lion, Witney. RAF Brize Norton is in the next village and is where the fallen are now repatriated, hence the selected charity. The team have already reached their £3,000 target. Fantastic!

All are welcome to come and watch and attend the Family Fun day during the Saturday with face painting, bouncy castle and  BBQ.

For those of you who are further away, Steve has also opened a Facebook page, where you can follow the team's progress.

Fun and Games for the NAC

[caption id="attachment_3060" align="aligncenter" width="640"] The 2 winning quiz teams who drew on points and went through to the tie break question. From left to right are Jon Vickers, Dan Noble, Vicky Guy, Vicky Holdsworth, Tom Bell, Fliss Holdsworth, Adam Hellewell and Natasha Thrams[/caption]

On May 24th the NAC Community Group held a Charity Challenge Night at the local sports club.  This consisted of a number of fun activities including bingo, picture quiz and a raffle, but the main activities were the general knowledge quiz and the farmyard derby.

The derby was NAC's version of a traditional race night but farmyard animals were raced instead of race horses - which made it all the more fun.  The star animals on the night were ‘Peking Duck’, head chicken ‘Foghorn Leghorn’, ‘Trigger’ the farmyard horse and the prize pig ‘Making Bacon’.

[caption id="attachment_3058" align="alignright" width="300"] The raffle gets drawn at the end of a great night[/caption]

Having paid an entrance fee which allowed teams to enter the quiz, guests were able to place bets on the farmyard races, half of which was paid out in prizes and the remainder put towards the fundraising total.  The raffle was a favourite as always and some great donations were received from a variety of local businesses, customers, and staff.

Around 70 people attended – a mix of NAC and BLS staff plus their family and friends, all helping to raise a funtastic total of £715.00 to be split between the Cancer Support Centre and SACAR.

Both are local charities.  The Cancer Support Centre offers support to local people suffering from all types of cancer and most of us are affected by this disease in one way or another.  SACAR  is another local charity that supports adults with Autism and Asperger’s syndrome in leading an independent life.

Pub Golf Adds to Brett's Total

[caption id="attachment_3020" align="alignleft" width="300"] Make your donation here![/caption]

Hot on the heels of the Payday Quiz and Cake Sale reported on Monday, Wakefield House's Brett Hanley and Anya Perry arranged a Pub Golf fundraiser on Saturday 19th May.

Brett is taking part in this year's From S to N bike ride and held the event to go towards the £2,000 he's pledged to raise for Swindon Down’s Syndrome Group. He says they're a charity who do some great work in the local area, who don’t typically receive much in terms of support.

Brett and Anya report:

We made t-shirts with our score-cards and route maps on which included the charity logos to raise awareness for the charity in the local area.

Mackenzies in Old Town even donated the full cost of our 1^st round of drinks to the charity, so thanks to them for the support.

They raised a grand total of £278 - a great effort towards meeting that £2,000 goal :)

Quizzes and Cake Make for the Perfect Friday

[caption id="attachment_3015" align="alignleft" width="300"] A variety of cupcakes were on offer[/caption]

More great fundraising efforts from everyone at Wakefield House!

On May 18th they held a ‘Pay Day Quiz’ and a Cake Sale. This was in aid of The Swindon Downs Syndrome Group, Brett Hanley’s chosen charity for the From S to N Bike Ride.

The Pay Day Quiz involved teams from within Wakefield House paying £5 per team to enter and winning 50% back (the other 50% went to charity). However, the winning team kindly donated their winnings to charity, bringing the total fundraising to £87. Great work!

[caption id="attachment_3016" align="alignleft" width="300"] This is just the photo - imagine what the real thing must have been like![/caption]

In addition the ‘Ladies who lunch’ (in Wakefield House kitchen that is!) donated cakes for an extra feel good dimension to the day. I hear banana muffins were also on offer, but instead I’ve had to make do with this picture of an AMAZING strawberry and clotted cream cheesecake instead.

This sold out in a matter of minutes!

Enter The Consortium

The Consortium may be the new kids on the Smiths News block, but already they're showing they're no strangers to fundraising for local charities.

They held a quiz night in Trowbridge on May 17th with 80 participants across 20 teams and raised a staggering £580. As well as the usual general knowledge and food and drink questions there were a few topical rounds based around the Olympics and the Royal family and an entirely 'David' focused picture round!

The event was organised to raise money for The Consortium's selected charity for 2012, Wiltshire Air Ambulance. It combined the traditional quiz with a raffle and a 'guess where the helicopter landed' game. Wiltshire Air Ambulance was selected as charity of the year following staff nominations who are delighted to be able to support such an important service for Wiltshire.

Three teams from Smiths News also took part in the event - have a look at the picture at the top of this post to see if you can spot any of them! The winning team was The Consortium's Ex-BMS made up of 2 Directors, Matt Palmer & John Kershaw and 2 of the Business Support Team – Julia Russell & Steph Newman.

It's great to welcome The Consortium to Dispatches!

Worcester Pay Tribute

Worcester have sent in an update on their recent fundraising activities. Laura McDonald reports:

Andy Walls asked me to let you know on Sunday 22^nd April, MSC Worcester raised £311 for Acorns Children Hospice.

We held a tribute day to Nigel Dean who passed away recently. We spent the day running pool and darts competitions as well as a sweepstake on the time of the first goal scored in the Man City V Wolves game.

Right on cue

Plymouth Group got their pool cues out recently as part of Community Week, raising £115  in the process.  This was in aid of the South West Children's Hospice Precious Lives Appeal.

[caption id="attachment_801" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Winner Pete Lamming receives his new pool cue"][/caption]

Mel Howes organised the pool tournament and all staff were invited to attend.  The players included John Murphy (who will soon be setting off on the A-B bike ride!), Scott Chennery, Sue & Pete Lamming & Sue's sister Lynn, Eddie Wadsworth, Jay Adamson, Andy & Mary Walker and their son, Kevin Howes and Paul & Di.

"The landlord of the pool hall donated the tables free of charge and also donated a new pool cue as a prize for the winner of the tournament. The younger lads thought they were going to win and didn't take any notice of Pete Lamming who was playing a storm.  He took them all by surprise by winning.  He's now been renamed Pete 'the shark' Lamming.  Pete just said 'beware of the quiet ones...'

Lots of friends and family joined in the fun and a great night was had by all, for a great cause."

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

Red Nose Report

Well with stories and photos flooding in from all across the country, you can expect a lot of updates this week and next.  Let’s start by looking at what everyone got up to for Red Nose Day – we have some great photos!

[caption id="attachment_402" align="alignleft" width="250" caption="Jo Hall, Birmingham house"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_405" align="alignleft" width="250" caption="Graeme Elbeck and Returns staff, Birmingham"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_404" align="alignleft" width="250" caption="Gail Butler and Ann-Marie Winston, Birmingham"][/caption]

Birmingham started a day early, to maximise the number of people involved – looks like they had some fun.  Newcastle got busy with the cakes, as did Manchester who went cake-mad.  And somebody said Lynn Henshaw’s cakes were only useful for doorstoppers…

The Bristol Group had a cake sale, guess the value of the coins in the jar and guess the number of sweets in the jar.  Kelly Leech attended the Southern Regional Meeting in her PJs – managers had a choice of wearing PJs or donating £10, so quite a lot of money was raised there!  There’s a rumour that Nigel Wren wore his pyjamas but we have no photographic evidence…

[caption id="attachment_411" align="alignleft" width="250" caption="Manchester"][/caption]



[caption id="attachment_410" align="alignleft" width="250" caption="Newcastle"][/caption]

 




[caption id="attachment_412" align="alignleft" width="188" caption="Manchester cakes!"][/caption]


[caption id="attachment_413" align="alignleft" width="250" caption="Bristol Group's Guess the Sweets in the Jar competition"][/caption]

 








[caption id="attachment_414" align="alignleft" width="350" caption="Wednesbury's Fancy Dress"][/caption]

Wednesburyhad both cakes and fancy dress for their Red Nose Day – check out those costumes!  Wakefield House had cakes, a sweepstake and a brain-teaser.  Overall between all locations £2,359 was raised for Red Nose Day, so well done everyone.

Pub with pool but no pints...

[caption id="attachment_240" align="alignleft" width="200" caption="Thirsty work, playing pool for 12 hours straight."][/caption]

Well done to Paul Sutton, Manager at Redruth House, who’s gotten off to a fine start fundraising for Community Week. Paul was sponsored to take part in a 12-hour non-stop pool playing tournament, at his local pub in Truro. Paul raised £201 for the Handstand Appeal and Cornish Hospices. The Handstand Appeal is to help a little boy in Paul’s locality who lost his hands and feet to meningitis.

 

“Playing pool for 12 hours straight was really hard going – especially as we were not allowed any alcohol and had to do it teetotal! Everyone at Redruth House sponsored me and the money is going to two fantastic causes.” 

Paul Sutton, Redruth House.