Featured news:

• 30-year partnership between Scannappeal and Seymour Taylor
• Athena Stonecare supporting childhood cancer research
• Qdime Group’s impressive charity exploits
• Promote your green credentials with Mix96!
• Puzzle Centre awarded £90,000 by BBC Children in Need
• Women and girls projects share in £3.4 million of national funding

30-year partnership between Scannappeal and Seymour Taylor

2019 marks a 30-year partnership for Buckinghamshire charity Scannappeal and accountancy firm Seymour Taylor.

Scannappeal, who began fundraising in 1987, have raised over £14m and completed 32 major appeals to fund state-of-the-art medical equipment for local hospitals (Wycombe, Stoke Mandeville and Amersham). As a team, Scannappeal recognise a large part of their success has been due to the fantastic support received from the local community.

Karen Shardlow from Scannappeal commented: “Our partnership with Seymour Taylor is incredibly important to us and they are a wonderful example of a local business working with and supporting their local community. All members of their team have developed a great understanding of our cause and show great commitment and passion to everything they get involved with. From sponsorship of events, participating in our golf days, organising their own fundraising and even jumping out of a plane at 12,000 feet to help raise money and awareness of what we do - their support has definitely made a huge difference to our work and we can’t thank Simon and the team enough.”

Simon Turner, Managing Director of Seymour Taylor, said: “We are proud to be long term supporters of Scannappeal. At Seymour Taylor, Corporate Social Responsibility is very important to us as a business as our team love to give something back to the community which we have been a part of for over 100 years. We know that the work that Scannappeal does is vital in raising much needed funds for life-saving technology and equipment that would not otherwise be available. They are a fantastic charity to support as the work they do touches so many people and we hope to continue to support them for many more years to come.”

Karen is keen to speak to other local businesses who would like to link with a local charity: “2019 is set to be a really exciting year for Scannappeal with the announcement of a brand new appeal to purchase two new MRI scanners for Buckinghamshire. We do recognise with so many charity asks, each with their own unique reason for support, it can sometimes be difficult for a business to decide who to select and how to best ensure support is making a real impact. What I would say is that by partnering with Scannappeal you can be assured monies raised will be spent here in Buckinghamshire, directly benefiting your staff, your customers and their families.”

For more information and to find out how you can help Karen can be contacted on 01494 734161 or by email Karen.shardlow@nhs.net.

Athena Stonecare supporting childhood cancer research

Athena Stonecare are supporting William’s Fund! The Chalfont St. Giles-based company, who specialise in natural stone restoration, have decided to kick-start 2019 by raising funds for local charities. Becca, Athena’s Business Development Manager, will be taking on the Reading Half Marathon in aid of the charity in March. Becca says: “As a company, we believe in giving back to the local community in any way that we can. We’re only a small business, but we want to do our bit to make a difference to charities that need our support.” To sponsor Becca and support Athena Stonecare in raising funds for the childhood cancer research, visit www.justgiving.com/fundraising/athena-stonecare.

Qdime Group’s impressive charity exploits

A message from the Qdime Group:

“In our head office in Bourne End we have over 60 members of staff who donate £1 to charity to 'dress down' every Friday. With 60 members of staff donating every week, we collect a wonderful amount to donate to local charities. We raised £676 just in the last quarter of 2018!

“We also raised nearly £150 in each of our offices on Macmillan's Coffee Morning. Much of this success was thanks to one member of staff, Olga Sharma, who baked a 15-layer cake weighing nearly 3kg!”

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Puzzle Centre awarded £90,000 by BBC Children in Need

Puzzle Centre in Buckingham are delighted to announce that BBC Children in Need has awarded them a grant of £90,000 over three years. This grant will fund specialist teaching and therapy and help to make a difference to the lives of disadvantaged children and young people right here in Buckinghamshire.

Puzzle Centre works towards helping each child realise his or her potential through the provision of specialist teaching and therapy to children aged 2-5 years with autism and other communication problems. With Puzzle Centre’s help, children will increase their communication skills, social skills and emotional well-being.

Puzzle Centre focuses on early intervention for autism and other communication difficulties. We work with children and families as early as possible to help to strengthen their foundations for the future. Other activities include a specialist nursery for 2-5 year olds, home or school-based support for children up to 11 years, practical and emotional support for families and a range of training courses for parents and professionals.

With the support of BBC Children in Need, Puzzle Centre will be able to continue helping young people in Buckinghamshire by funding a specialist teacher, occupational and speech therapist who will work directly with children attending their specialist nursery.

Women and girls projects share in £3.4 million of national funding

Five local organisations that work with some of society’s most vulnerable women and girls have received a much-needed funding boost from Heart of Bucks, the community foundation for Buckinghamshire. These small charities and community groups have received grants of up to £10,000 from the Tampon Tax Community Fund to work with women of all ages, focusing on preventative services for those at risk of crisis.

Over £25,000 was awarded to projects that will help women and girls to create and develop social networks, build skills and confidence, and offer mental health support.

As one of the UK’s largest grant-giving organisations, UK Community Foundations, was asked by government to distribute the largest share of the funding raised through the levy on sanitary products in 2017/18 to small, local projects, working with its network of Community Foundations across the country.

The organisations and projects being funded in Buckinghamshire are:

• Lindengate
• Carers Bucks
• Restore Hope
• The Dash Charity

Send us your charity news

The next charity newsletter will go out around late May, so send any charity news to news@bbf.uk.com in advance of mid-May for inclusion.