Persimmon injects £24,000 into regional good causes

HOUSEBUILDER Persimmon has announced the launch of a £24,000 community fund to support local groups and charities across the South Midlands.

Persimmon Homes South Midlands is launching Persimmon Community Champions which is a national programme where charities and groups can apply for funding up to the value of £1,000 to match money they have already raised themselves. 

Nationwide the company will donate a total of £750,000.

Andy Peters, managing director of Persimmon Homes South Midlands, said: “This is an extremely exciting venture for the whole business. We have always supported charities but we have never come together with such a large pot of money. We hope that our funding of £24,000 can make a huge difference across every community.

“Nationally, every one of our regional businesses has two grants of up to £1,000 each to give away every month. That’s £2,000 a month from our regional teams plus our PLC head office and Space4 timber frame business.”

The company is calling on groups and charities to apply for funding, with the first grants being issued this month.

Local businessmen raise £15,000 for charity at Tokyo Marathon

A TRIO of Birmingham charities will receive donations worth more than £15,000 after three local businessmen completed this year’s Tokyo Marathon.

Birmingham signage company Hollywood Monster’s Tim Andrews and Phil McKenzie and Alan Sarjant from Solihull property developer and business park owner Prologis, completed the famous 26-mile race to raise money for local causes.

The businessmen travelled out to Tokyo for the race on 22 February and joined more than 35,000 fellow runners.

After successfully completing the race they returned to Birmingham with donations worth more than £15,000, which will go to Alzheimer’s Society, Edward’s Trust and LoveBrum.

Andrews completed the race in a respectable time of just over five hours and smashed his £5,000 target for LoveBrum, the charity recently launched to unearth ‘hidden gem’ projects that help make Birmingham a better place.

He said: “I’m absolutely overwhelmed by the support I’ve received for the Tokyo Marathon.”

Clarke Willmott scores £900 for charity

THE inaugural Clarke Willmott Charity Table Tennis Tournament, in which accountants, solicitors and property consultants went head-to-head across a ping pong table, raised £900 for the Child Brain Injury Trust.

The money raised at the Birmingham law firm’s event will be used to support local people affected by childhood acquired brain injury.

The competition was won by the team from kitchen manufacturer Mereway Kitchens, with Paul Worrallo playing the winning shot in the final against accountants and business advisors Chantrey Vellacott.

Other players showing off their drop shots, top spins and double bounces represented organisations including property consultancy Knight Frank, and consultancy and construction company Mace.

Emily Honey, fundraising officer for Child Brain Injury Trust, said: “We are very grateful to have been chosen by Clarke Willmott as its charity of the year.

“The money raised at the event will help our local support worker project, which provides information, support and training to anyone dealing with childhood acquired brain injury in the West Midlands.”

Philip Edwards, serious injury partner at Clarke Willmott, said: “As expected, many of our corporate contacts got quite competitive, but everyone was there to get into the spirit of the evening and raise cash for this extremely important cause.”