Unsworth Sugden Group

A Barratt Homes show home in Buckingham, has been kitted out with a pink theme to help raise awareness of the Breast Cancer Campaign.

The brightly coloured show home at Windsor Park on London Road boasts hot pink walls, a girl’s room with a ballet theme, as well as pink curtains, mirrors and wallpaper throughout the house.

Barratt Homes has also asked its construction teams to switch their standard yellow high viz waistcoats for some girly pink ones and wear them on site on today (Friday 26^th October).  Visitors to Windsor Park may find the traditional masculine builder looking a little more feminine! They will even wear pink hard hats too!

Barratt Homes’ Northampton division will be donating £100 to the breast cancer care charity for every home reserved at Windsor Park during October.

Sales director Sue Blackman said, “We are delighted to show our support for this incredibly worthwhile cause and the charity deserves every bit of help it can get.”

Everyone here at Unsworth Sugden hope that they raise as much as possible for the Breast Cancer Care charity. We’re also doing our bit by wearing pink in the office today.  Look out for pictures!

Inside the show home which is kitted out in pink.

Construction team on site dressed in pink!

Giving to charity is one of the easiest ways for companies to show their caring side and we have guided many clients through this process.

Donating to a worthy cause delivers a simple message although without a few pointers to bear in mind, being charitable can get a little complicated. This is why we’ve compiled a list of dos and don’ts to make sure your humbling donation leads you to the golden gates of PR heaven!

Don’t - Sponsor anyone or everyone! Charities work through a long list of companies and they understand that they’re not to everybody’s taste. However worthwhile the cause, sponsoring an extreme sport if you’re trying to project a responsible image isn’t the wisest of choices.

Don’t - Try to buy forgiveness! Nobody likes those with more money than sense! Learn to recognise the time when you need to say sorry instead. Admittedly this is an extreme example but you don’t want to infuriating people further by chucking money at a problem -http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1303527/Tony-Blair-announces-cash-book-Royal-British-Legion.html

Don’t - Be vague! Establish exactly how much you’re donating and when by. You don’t want charities to get the wrong end of the stick which could potentially result in a PR crisis!

Do - Pick a relevant charity. This could complement your own marketing, for example David Wilson Homes’ sponsoring Guide Dogs is especially apt due to the striking resemblance to their logo. Picking local charities will also make the story more important to local newspapers.

David Wilson Homes sponsors the Guide Dogs charity

Do - Combine your missions. Pick an organisation whose mission statements resemble your company’s values - you want to build a compatible relationship. A family orientated home builder might look to donate to primary schools, which is very fitting because they are the pillars of local communities.

Do - Give your charity a trial run. Sponsor a small project first and see if you like the way the charity works before embracing bigger campaigns.

Do - Give it the personal touch. A personal connection can make the story stronger. For example founder of Taylan’s Project, Figen Rawlinson, has a strong affiliation with David Wilson Homes as her son used to wave at the company’s diggers passing their house before he sadly passed away.

Taylan's Project, based in Calvert Green, receives a donation from David Wilson Homes

Do - Start from home! Find out if there is a need coming from within your own company. Choosing a cause that your employees care about will get everyone excited and yield better campaign participation.

Raynsway employees take part in 'Wear it pink' day

Happy giving!!

Andrew, Glynn and Stuart with their handy work

Staff at client Schlüter-Systems have downed tools and picked up their frying pans during a recent charity breakfast at its Coalville head office.

The leading UK provider of tile solutions, which has already donated nearly £5,500 to charity in 2011 raised a total of £170 for Coalville Hospital during this event, which is in its fifth consecutive year.

Business Development Managers Stuart Ross and Glynn Davies donned their aprons and acted as head chefs during the event, aided by Andrew Curry as head waiter, they served 25 employees with both full English and continental options.

Keen cook Stuart comments, “Our charity breakfast has become an annual event and we are delighted to once again be donating the proceeds to Coalville Hospital. It is important to remember that whilst many have enjoyed the festive celebrations there are others for whom this time of the year hasn’t been so enjoyable and we believe this donation really reflects the true meaning of Christmas.”

This is just one of a number of charitable donations that Schlüter-Systems has made throughout the past 12 months as we support various good causes across the country, either directly or through sponsorship of our customers and partners. Other contributions have been made to Rainbows Children Hospice in Loughborough and Children Today, the chosen charity of The Tile Association.

Thanks to Steve Baker for the great photography.

Gym manager Julie, assistant manager Nick and Sophie from the BHF

A new Leicester gym, due to open in the city next month, will be putting its fitness instructors to the test to raise money for heart patients.

Staff at Pure Gym, which is located on Walnut Street, are taking part in a fundraising ‘row-a-thon’ on Tuesday 2^nd August after it’s new 24 hour, state of the art club opens later this month.  The team hopes to row for 10 hours between 10am and 8pm.

All money raised will go towards the British Heart Foundation’s (BHF) Mending Broken Hearts Appeal - a major new programme of research in regenerative medicine to find a cure for heart disease.  The Mending Broken Hearts project involves stem cell research and developmental biology to work out how to repair or replace damaged heart muscle to literally ‘mend broken hearts’ in as little as 10 years time.

Julie Suggitt, General Manager for the new Pure Gym, said instructors would be rowing non-stop in a bid to encourage donations from its growing number of new members.  “The British Heart Foundation is a great cause and hopefully a charity we’ll continue to support in the future.  We also want to encourage people to think about their own health and wellbeing,” said Julie.

Helping the instructors shape up for the event has been British Heart Foundation Fundraising Volunteer Manager Sophie Jardine.

Sophie said, “I like to keep in shape so I’m looking forward to seeing what the Pure Gym instructors can do during the row-a-thon. I hope the public get behind them to because it’s in aid of a great cause. Heart and circulatory disease is the UK’s biggest killer and people who are physically active are half as likely to get cardiovascular disease than those that are inactive.

“It is great that Pure Gym is supporting our Mending Broken Hearts Appeal and I urge all the new gym members to get on board and back them.”

Anyone interested in joining Pure Gym is being encouraged to do so now before the opening non 8^th July, to make the most of the introductory rate of just £9.99 per month.

For more information visit the website at www.puregym.com or visit the Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pure-Gym-Leicester/192480670786826 or Twitter @puregym.

The phrase ‘Charity Tuesday’ isn’t solely confined to Twitter today after work by the Unsworth Sugden PR team saw coverage in this morning’s Leicester Mercury for client Westleigh Developments. This comes after its commercial division welcomed the regional office of a leading national charity to its LE3 office park in Leicester Forest East.

Tuesdays on the social networking and micro blogging website appear to have been designated as the chosen day of the week for charities and good causes to raise awareness and tell the world both what they do and when they do it, using the hashtag #charitytuesday.

So it seems quite apt that we have received coverage on a Tuesday for our press release about Alzheimer’s Society relocating its office for Leicester City, Leicestershire and Rutland from Humberstone Gate in the city centre to new premises at the development, close to junction 21a of the M1, which provides it with more space and the opportunity for future growth.

We spoke to representatives from the charity, Westleigh and property agents Innes England to gauge their opinions on the move and the local commercial property market before also organising photography and liaising with the paper. The end result was this great piece in today’s Business supplement.

(from left to right) Matt Moore of Westleigh, Sally Grundy of Alzheimer’s Society and Chris Page from Innes England at LE3

Client Westleigh Developments Ltd has donated £1,000 to the Warwickshire Wildlife Trust after it was selected by the winner of the property developer’s festive online game.

Rather than sending Christmas cards to its suppliers and customers, Westleigh once again chose the green option, in line with its GreenHouse environmental commitment, and made its season’s greetings via email. Recipients were then invited to log on to play “Christmas Demolition”, a simple game where participants win points and complete levels by demolishing targets.

The game, which attracted hundreds of entrants, saw top scorer Robert Lees at Ridge & Partners LLP select the Warwickshire Wildlife Trust to receive the £1,000 prize.

Chris Beighton, Managing Director at Westleigh, comments, “An increasing number of companies now send electronic greetings cards as an alternative to regular Christmas cards, which often leads to mountains of waste material after the festive period. The decision to run the online competition again was an easy one following the success of our previous charity games and we feel the £1,000 donation to a worthy cause truly reflects the real meaning of Christmas.”

Client Westleigh Developments is offering business across the region the chance to win £1,000 for the charity of their choice by playing its festive, online game.

Rather than sending Christmas cards to its suppliers and customers, Whetstone-based property developer Westleigh has again chosen the green option, in line with its GreenHouse environmental commitment and made its season’s greetings via email. Recipients are then invited to log on to play “Christmas Demolition”, a simple game where participants win points and complete levels by demolishing targets.

The game is also available at www.westleigh.co.uk and runs until 10am on Wednesday 22^nd December 2010.

Westleigh's 'Christmas Demolition' game

Former Leicester Tigers star Matt Hampson has officially opened the brand new head office of Leicester’s leading and longest standing disabilities services charity, Mosaic Shaping Disability Services.

The ex-rugby player, who is confined to a wheelchair after suffering a spinal injury in a training session in 2005, was invited, along with a host of local dignitaries and partners of Mosaic, to kick-off a week of celebrations for the new, bespoke 5,500 sq ft permanent home at the le3 business park off Ratby Lane built by the commercial division of our client, Westleigh Developments.

Ian Harrison of Mosaic and Matt Hampson (front) with Westleigh's Anthony Ashford and Mosaic's Barbara Howard (behind)

Leading solicitor and client Bray and Bray, has given Leicester based charity, LOROS a helping hand with a donation for its annual fun run.

Runners have been pounding the streets of Leicester and Hinckley in preparation for the series of running events which are taking place on Wednesday 22^nd September.

Fundraisers will be able to take part in either a 5K race or a Fun Run Mile in Hinckley and the money donated by Bray and Bray will help to supply chip timers, t-shirts and medals for those who take part.

This fun run is just one of the many ways that Bray and Bray has supported LOROS over the years and will help the charity in its mission to care for terminally-ill patients and their families.

Good luck to everyone taking part!

Take a look for yourself at http://www.loros.com/fundraising/Default.aspx?id=426969