Charity: Redrow; Leeds Building Society; Skipton Building Society; Torque

PUPILS at a primary school were treated to a day of cycling fun in the run up to the Tour de Yorkshire from housebuilder Redrow.

To mark the Tour passing through Sherburn-in-Elmet this Saturday, on route from Otley to Doncaster, Redrow Homes paid for local Bikeability cycle training company CycleLeeds to provide a range of workshops, from a bike obstacle course and cycling games to race training and a bike fix challenge, for pupils at Athelstan Community Primary School.

The primary school also planned a complementary range of lessons to incorporate various subjects including maths, geography, science and art – but all with a cycling related or Tour de Yorkshire theme.

James Tucker of Athelstan Primary, said: “We are very grateful for Redrow’s generosity and enthusiasm to organise the cycle event taking place at Athelstan. The Tour de Yorkshire passing through Sherburn-in-Elmet is an exciting event, and thanks to Redrow we are able to mark the occasion in an equally exciting way. Children throughout Key Stage Two had the opportunity to take part in fun and enriching cycling activities, ranging from obstacle courses to bike maintenance challenges, all designed to increase their skills and confidence on a bike.”

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Damien Briscoe Leeds Building SocietyTHE manager of Leeds Building Society’s Halifax branch completed Sunday’s London Marathon within four hours and raised more than £1,000 for charity.

Damien Briscoe finished the 26.2 mile event in three hours and 44 minutes and raised £1,100 for Tommy’s, the charity which funds research into pregnancy problems and provides information to parents.

He also took part in the North London Half Marathon in March as part of his training. He began his fundraising for Tommy’s by taking part in the 2015 Great North Run.    

He said: “After experiencing personal loss and knowing friends and family suffering from the impact of miscarriage, stillbirth and premature birth I decided to fundraise for a great cause that means so much to my family and those close to me.

“As I started to run out of fuel after about 18 miles the reward of raising money for a fantastic cause like Tommy’s made it all worthwhile and gave it a purpose other than personal achievement.”

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COMMUNITY groups in Yorkshire are being invited to enter an award scheme which last year gave out nearly £20,000 to the county’s good causes.

Thirty-eight Yorkshire based community groups were among those celebrating at the end of last year after local supporters helped them secure £19,000 of funding from Skipton Building Society’s Grassroots Giving Scheme.

 The winners were chosen by public vote after being shortlisted from over 1,000 community organisations across the country.  

Now in its fourth year, Grassroots Giving was set up to support small community groups which might not normally attract any sort of funding. In 2016, a total of £81,500 has been made available to reward 163 groups.

Applications open on May 3.

The groups which make it to the shortlisting stage in August are then profiled by Skipton, the UK’s fourth largest building society, and then the public will be asked to vote for who they think is the most deserving.

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Meanwhile, staff from Skipton Building Society have been helping a hospice following a break-in.

After a burglary at Sue Ryder Manorlands Hospice in Oxenhope at the end of March, staff have been working hard to help replace some of the items that were stolen and to try and prevent future break-ins.

Thieves broke into a shed stealing over £5,000 worth of tools.  This is one of a recent spate of thefts at the hospice which provides dedicated care for people aged 18 and over living with life-threatening conditions including cancer, heart failure and lung disease.
 
Skipton began by donating £1,000 to enable the hospice to replace items stolen. And as awareness grew around the Society more people wanted to get involved and help. More items were donated from colleagues and Skipton’s building services team and their suppliers donated new security lighting and video surveillance technology and installed all of the new equipment.

Nick Clarke, Skipton Building Society’s community relations consultant, said: “We were absolutely appalled when we learned that our local hospice caring for terminally ill people had been targeted by thieves. And the groundswell of support and desire to do something to help from Skipton’s workforce was incredible.

“As a large business, it’s with a heavy heart that many of our employees have seen family, friends and even work colleagues receive the first rate care that the team at Manorlands provide. And we just really wanted to do a little bit to try and make up for the distress such a callous act has had on the Manorlands family.”

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Torque Meanwood Valley Urban FarmEMPLOYEES from Wortley-based international logistics provider Torque have donated £2085 to Meanwood Valley Urban Farm.

Staff spent 12 months raising money for two community partners and 50% of the proceeds have been allocated to the farm and will be used for cleaning equipment and producing new leaflets.

Meanwood Valley Urban Farm helps disadvantaged children get back on their feet with educational courses and training schemes. The charity also works with Leeds City Council Adult Social Care to provide training schemes for adults with learning disabilities so they can develop skills in gardening, literacy, and numeracy.

Sue Reddington, farm director, Meanwood Valley Urban Farm, said: “The energetic and enthusiastic Torque employees have been amazing in their support of the farm. Firstly, employees nominated the Farm as a community partner, then they have organised a range of activities over the year from ‘bake offs’ to quizzes to raise funds and, for our Christmas Fayre, they persuaded and cajoled people to donate huge amounts of toys and prizes.

“In addition, we received a donation of £3,000 from Torque to fund the refurbishment of a polytunnel that provides a base for our team of adults with learning disabilities, picnic tables and, the icing on the cake, two Dexter cows that will be arriving within the next two months.”
 

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