Foiled again! Grant Thornton fences for charity

STAFF at Grant Thornton in Birmingham swapped their laptops for fencing foils to raise money for StreetGames, the UKs leading charity for youth sport in disadvantaged communities.

The fencing taster session took place at Grant Thornton’s new offices on the 12th floor of Colmore Plaza and was part of the firm’s participation in the Gold Challenge initiative, which encourages staff to try Olympic and Paralympic Sports during Olympic year and raise money for charity.

The fencing session will be followed by judo, boxing, running and archery. There will also be an Olympic style multi sport day held at Birmingham University in the summer.

Mike Sheppard, partner and Gold Challenge champion at Grant Thornton in Birmingham, said: “Grant Thornton chose to support StreetGames because its ethos of investing in youth resonated with the firm’s own objective to develop new talent. Combining our own firm-wide wellbeing initiative and fundraising for StreetGames at the same time therefore made perfect sense.”

StreetGames currently has 24 projects across the West Midlands, including Dancing for the Games, a project to encourage young people to take up streetdance linked to the cultural legacy of the Olympics; Community Games, which promotes locally-based Olympic style sports events and Fizzical, which provides free physical activities for sedentary and obese 8-14 year olds in Birmingham.

Smith Cooper flying high with Air Ambulance

ACCOUNTANTS Smith Cooper, which has nine offices across the Midlands, has made The Air Ambulance Service its designated charity.

The AAS is the umbrella charity for two Air Ambulances; Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance (WNAA) and sister service, Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Rutland Air Ambulance (DLRAA).

In December 2011 TAAS took over The Children’s Air Ambulance, which will operate from Coventry Airport from this autumn.

Jeremy Cope, lead partner at Smith Cooper’s Birmingham office, said: “We are launching our relationship with TAAS officially in April and already we have a number of exciting initiatives planned, including staff participation in the Heroes Run events across our region.”  

Catherine Foster, Head of Corporate Relations for TAAS, said: “We are delighted that Smith Cooper has chosen us as their charity partner, not least because they are the first organisation to support TAAS in its entirety and will be concentrating their fundraising efforts across the Midlands in a variety of ways.”

Rugby dinner boosts Birmingham and Black Country Community Foundation

JOBSON James Charles Stanley’s financial planning arm in Birmingham hosted a successful fundraising rugby dinner at Edgbaston Stadium in aid of the Birmingham and Black Country Community Foundation, which provides philanthropy services and grants to improve the quality of life for disadvantaged communities in the region.

Charles Stanley sponsored the dinner and corporate guests included DLA Piper, DAC Beachcroft, Rider Levett Bucknall, Pertemps and Blackrock. The event raised £1,500.

MC for the event was Roger Dakin and special guests were former British and Irish legends Graham Price and Fergus Slattery.

Organiser Tim Venner, of Jobson James, said: “The event was a resounding success and we are all extremely pleased to have raised this sum of money for the Birmingham Community Foundation.”

David Bucknall, BBCCF chairman, said: “The night was extremely enjoyable and a great example of philanthropy in our region.”

Pictured from left: Tim Venner, of Jobson James, Fergus Slattery, Graham Price and Toby Carpenter, of Charles Stanley.