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Newbury Building Society undertook a range of festive activities during December 2019 to help raise funds for a range of difference charitable and community-focussed organisations.
From sponsoring Christmas song sheets to partnering with a local radio station to host an annual Giving Tree event, branch employees worked tirelessly to help spread the joy of Christmas throughout the community.
Below, you can find highlights of the main activities hosted over the festive period:
Newbury Building Society’s hamper competition
Members and prospective members were encouraged to enter a prize draw to be in with the chance to win a luxury Christmas hamper worth £50 with all proceeds donated to each branch’s partner charity.
514 members entered the competition in total which raised £719. This was then fund matched by the Society to give a grand total of £1438.
Basingstoke Giving Tree, sponsored by the Breeze radio station
Basingstoke branch once again partnered with Breeze radio to run its annual Giving Tree in support Sebastian’s Trust and Home Start North West Hampshire. The campaign encouraged listeners of the station and visitors to branch to purchase and donate an extra Christmas present which will then be distributed by both charities to vulnerable children.
During December, the branch received many donations with one local organisation, Media Distribution Services, demonstrating extraordinary generosity by gifting £1000 worth of new toys. It turned out the group decided to forgo their usual work Christmas celebrations and instead, use their budget to support the campaign.
Lisa Wedge, Branch Manager at Basingstoke said: “The branch collected more donations than ever before; there really are some kind, generous people out there.”
Swift Courier Christmas Toy Appeal 2019
Three of the Society’s branches – Newbury, Thatcham and Hungerford – continued to support the Swift Couriers annual Christmas Toy Appeal and volunteered to be drop-off points for local people to donate presents for disadvantaged children who social services class as being from financially-challenged backgrounds.
Newbury Weekly News over-80s’ parcel fund
Following last year’s hugely success campaign, the Society continued to support Newbury Weekly News’ over-80s’ food parcel drive.
A donation of £500 helped purchased food items and supplies for elderly residents in West Berkshire who might otherwise have missed out. An estimated 2000 parcels were delivered and contained a Christmas meal, items for an afternoon tea, plus a few extra treats, such as chocolates and biscuits.
Emma Simms, Marketing and Communications Manager said: “The over-80s’ parcel fund is a much needed and much-loved initiative designed to support the elderly who find Christmas a very sad, lonely and difficult time of year. We were proud to once again be part of the positive work undertaken by volunteers and will continue to do so.”
Wokingham Giving Tree Appeal
Wokingham was one of a handful of local businesses who supported the borough’s annual Giving Tree. The campaign encouraged local people to take a tag from one of the many Giving Trees in the region, buy the gift on the tag and return it – unwrapped.
A range of charities benefitted from the campaign including Barnardo’s, Wokingham Young Carers, Transform Housing, Dingley Family and Specialist Early Years Centre, to name only a few, to ensure children whose stockings might otherwise have been empty on Christmas morning, receive a present.
Andover Giving Tree Appeal
This year, the team in Andover hosted their very own Giving Tree event and collected presents from generous members in aid of Naomi House & Jacksplace.
Greenham Trust’s Christmas sing-along
Newbury Building Society sponsored this year’s community Christmas Sing-Along, organised by Visit Newbury and Greenham Trust. A one-off donation of £500 went towards providing new song sheets for the event.
