CSR: Variety, The Outward Bound Trust, Meanwood Park

BEVERLEY-BASED holiday home manufacturer ABI have built a ‘sensory space’ with the support of the community, with proceeds going to children’s charity Variety.

Their ‘sensory space’ will be shown at the Caravan Extravaganza Lawns Show in Cottingham, 5-6 September, which will be on display alongside ABI’s newest collection of holiday homes throughout the show.

Last year, the company used the event to showcase their innovative Concept Van, and are continuing growth with the help and support of Barclays.
This year, ABI decided to give back to the community through the creation of a charity van.

Charlotte Farrington, regional development manager for Variety said ‘We are so grateful to ABI for providing us with this amazing opportunity.

“The sensory space will benefit thousands of disabled and disadvantaged children across Yorkshire and will provide them with much needed relief from their day to day struggles. Please join us at the show to support our wonderful project.”

Members of the public will be able to join this community project by decorating the Sensory Space’s exterior using hand print stickers, which they can sign with their names in return for a small donation.

“Through this, ABI hopes to raise enough money to provide a ‘Sunshine Coach’ to help disadvantaged children access holidays.

Richard Jones, director at ABI said: “We thought the Caravan Extravaganza would be a great opportunity to show how our community of holiday home enthusiasts can make a real difference to children’s lives, all while having a bit of fun by allowing them to decorate the van at the show.”

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THE real estate team from law firm Irwin Mitchell have got on their bikes to support the Canal & River Trust by tackling the charity’s 240-mile coast to coast challenge.

The Great British Bike Off started in Blackpool and saw riders make their way across Lancashire and the Yorkshire Dales, to a finish in Scarborough.

All of the money raised by the cycling event goes towards supporting the work of Canal & River Trust, who will use the donation to conserve, restore and enhance canals and rivers or to educate people about them.

David Goy and Paul Barnard, associate solicitors from Irwin Mitchell’s Sheffield and Manchester-based Real Estate teams, went along for the ride and to support the charity, which is also a valued client of the firm.

Mr Goy said: “We are very proud of our long-running relationship with the charity, which is involved in hugely important projects across England and Wales, and it was great to take part in this challenge for the second consecutive year.

“We’re already looking forward to getting involved again next year!”

LEEDS firm Clarion has aided The Outward Bound Trust, advising the education charity on a contract to enable chief executives, philanthropists and entrepreneurs, including Yorkshire entrepreneur Lord Kirkham the founder of DFS, to abseil three London landmarks

The Outward Bound City Three Peaks Challenge in association with The Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity saw the first ever descents of the outside of The Gherkin, The Leadenhall Building (‘The Cheesegrater’) and 20 Fenchurch Street (‘The Walkie Talkie’).
Doncaster businessman and philanthropist Lord Kirkham, founder of the DFS Furniture chain, was among the group of participants who completed the descent of each tower one after the other, achieving the longest civilian abseil in history.
The commercial team at Clarion were the legal advisors to The Outward Bound Trust, working on the various commercial terms agreed between all the parties involved and enabling the Trust to secure the support of 30 St Mary Axe, The Leadenhall Building and 20 Fenchurch Street.

Each participant committed to raising £100,000, with the aim of the event being to generate £4 million in funds for The Outward Bound Trust and RNRMC.
The event was facilitated by The Royal Marines. The Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity is the principal charity of the Royal Navy. It helps to boost morale, improve facilities and ease the pressure that life in the Service can bring, as well as providing crucial support for families and veterans.

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HENTONS accountancy firm has launched its latest CSR campaign with a revamp project for a playground in Meanwood Park.

With Leeds City Council, a team from Hentons spent two days making the park a safer, cleaner place for children to play; painting equipment, removing hazardous worn wood and general maintenance to remove weeds and plant flowers.

Nadeem Ahmed, managing partner at Hentons said: “Our team have always been active in the community, but often on an individual basis and we wanted to do something as a business. We were quite surprised by the number of projects requiring help and support from local businesses. We all agreed that the park should be our first project, many of us have young families and it’s important that children have clean, safe places to play.”

Waseem Khan who arranged the day commented “It was great to see our hard work pay off over the two days. We met lots of parents who thanked us for our hard work and told us how much safer, and more pleasant the park felt.”