Charity support at Cirencester Friendly
Charity of the Year 2019 - Gloucestershire Young Carers
As a Friendly Society we like to give back, therefore we support the local community and charitable organisations that are close to our hearts. Every year we choose a charity which is voted for by our staff members.
This year our Charity of the Year 2019 will be Gloucestershire Young Carers, we look forward to helping raise funds for such a worthy cause.
The chosen charity for 2018 was Wiltshire Air Ambulance. Throughout the year staff took part in fun and challenging fundraising activities. We kicked off our 2018 fundraising for Wiltshire Air Ambulance, with a double whammy event of a Pancake Flipping Competition and a Valentine’s Day themed Bake Sale. Throughout the year various fundraising events took place, such as themed Quiz's and Bake Sales, and the year ended with a jam packed week of Christmas Fundraising.
The total amount raised for Wiltshire Air Ambulance in 2018 was £1581.39, which was then matched by the Society, bringing the grand total to £3162.78. Well done to everyone at the Society for their great fundraising efforts.
2017 Charity Events
Dress down for charity
To help boost the amount raised, we introduced dress down day and pay £1 on the last Friday of every month.
CFS Festive fun
Throughout the month of December, we had lots of festive fun with various fund raising activities taking place, including; a Bake Off, Photo Booth, Christmas Jumper Day, Pin the Tail on the Snowman, Decorate the Gingerbread Man, Christmas Breakfast Bar, Present Wrapping, a raffle and everyone’s favourite, Santa’s Grotto.
We all enjoyed ourselves and our efforts were successful as we raised a total of £871. The amount was matched by the Society, taking the total raised to a fantastic £1,742!
The total raised for the year for Cancer Research UK was a brilliant £6,746.50! Wow!
Comic Relief
The Society started its charity activities for 2017 by supporting Comic Relief on Friday 24 March 2017.
Staff were decked out in red attire and tucked into tasty red themed cakes. There was also ‘guess the number of sweeties in the jar’ competition and a raffle. The day raised a brilliant £163.38.
A year of challenges
Here at Cirencester Friendly, we jump at the chance of being active and challenging ourselves. This year many of our staff set themselves some great challenges, which has seen them step outside of their comfort zone while raising money for Cancer Research UK.
Cheltenham Challenge & Cirencester 10K Run
In June, Jessica, Victoria, Catherine and Karen took on a double whammy and successfully completed the Cheltenham Challenge and the Cirencester 10k. With all of those ‘straight after work’ training sessions, we were not surprised the ladies did so well!
Jessica’s first Half Marathon
Jessica pushed herself even further and followed this by taking part in her first Half Marathon in Swindon. Well done Jessica!
Tough Mudder Half
In August, the Cirencester Friendly Team waded their way through mud and obstacles in the Tough Mudder Half Challenge! The team had great fun, even with all the slips and falls!
All the above challenges raised a brilliant £657.50. The Society has kindly matched this, bringing the total to £1,315.
Relay For Life Cirencester
Our Accounts Supervisor, Donna King and her team ‘Kings & Co’ took part in the Relay for Life in Cirencester. They took it in turns to walk around the track for a whopping 24 hours! What a great way to show that together we are stronger than cancer.
They raised an amazing £800, which was matched by the Society, bringing the total to £1,600.
Move for Cancer Research UK
On 22 September 2017, we held our annual charity event of the year. Society staff took on the treadmill with the aim to ‘move’ from our office in Dyer Street to the statue of George Holloway in Stroud and back (26.6 miles). Taking it in turns to run for 20 minutes at a time, the staff went on to beat the target distance and covered a total of 35 miles!
Alongside this we also had lots of other activities taking place, including a bake sale, book sale, and a quiz.
The staff and the very generous people of Cirencester raised a brilliant £880.16!
The Society matched the amount raised, bringing the amount to an amazing £1,760.32.