Yorkshire property charity lunch to have biggest audience ever as speakers unveiled

This year’s Yorkshire Property Charity Lunch will be the biggest in the event’s history, with more than 500 of the region’s property industry due to attend.

To mark its twentieth anniversary, this year’s luncheon will be held at the First Direct Arena on Friday 13 September and will follow the annual football match, which sees property professionals taking on property agents at The John Charles Centre for Sport on the Friday morning. Kick-off is at 9.30am and spectators are welcome. 

The organisers of the event have also confirmed that this year’s speakers will be ex-cricketer, Paul Shaw who worked with England’s women’s cricket set-up for seven years and oversaw back-to-back Ashes series victories, as well as reaching a World Cup final. 

He will be joined by professional rugby league coach and former player, Tony Smith, who was instrumental in securing Huddersfield’s promotion before being appointed by Leeds Rhinos in 2003. He became a hero at the Rhinos after leading them to their first Championship in 32 years during his first season in charge, and he later became the full-time coach of Great Britain and also coached England.

The money raised at this year’s Yorkshire Property Charity Lunch will benefit Teenage Cancer Trust and The Yorkshire Property Charitable Trust, which was set up in 2015 and has raised almost £500,000 to date for a huge range of local charities and good causes. Anyone working in the region’s property industry can apply for funding or suggest worthwhile causes for the charity’s trustees’ consideration. 

Jonny Phillips, from the Yorkshire Property Lunch organising committee, said: “Moving this year’s event to the First Direct Arena means we can welcome a bigger audience, and we’re delighted with the support that we’ve received so far, with more than 50 tables already sold. We now only have a few tables remaining, so anyone interested in attending needs to contact us now.

“We’re also looking forward to hearing from Paul Shaw and Tony Smith. They’ve both been involved in professional sport at international level and will talk about mental toughness and the challenges that both sport and business often face, as well as sharing stories from their time on and off the pitch.” 

Finally, Jonny added: “We also have an exciting charity auction lined up, which all means we’re on track to raise a vast amount of money that will make a genuine difference to local people and causes in Yorkshire, so we’re very grateful to all the businesses and everyone else that’s supporting us this year.”

In another new development this year, TheBusinessDesk.com has joined the event as its official media partner, and sponsors will include Towngate, Walker Morris, Blacks Solicitors, Wainwrights, Xenon Workplace, Glenbrook, CitiPark, Firecrest Construction, First Direct Arena and Ayre Event Solutions.

The remaining tables of 10 at this year’s Yorkshire Property Charity Lunch, which starts at 12.30pm with a three course lunch served from 1.30pm, are priced at £1,250. There will also be a charity auction, raffle, guest speaker and entertainment.

To find out more visit https://www.ypcf.org/. For information about The Yorkshire Property Charitable Trust and how to apply for funding visit https://www.yorkshirepropertycharity.com/