Pan Autos of First Stop Golf Day Raises 1,900 for Jumbulance
Pan Autos, part of the First Stop network of tyre dealerships, has raised over £1,900 for a local charity at its annual charity golf day.
Pan Autos, part of the First Stop network of tyre dealerships, has raised over £1,900 for a local charity at its annual charity golf day.
A pair of HiQ franchisees, who got in the pink for Breast Cancer Care, raised £1,500 for the charity at Snetterton racing circuit. Phil Cowell and Robert Brown were on hand for the latest round of British Touring Car Championship action on August 2 and spent the day raising funds for the charity. The pair, who own six HiQ centres in the east of England under their P & R Tyres Ltd company, gave away specially made pink baseball caps in return for charitable donations and carried buckets at the track for the thousands of motorsport fans to give to.
McConechy’s Tyre and Exhaust Centres and Bridgestone raised almost £1,000 for Diabetes UK at the Glasgow River Festival. Visitors to the festival got a close up look at Bridgestone’s replica Ferrari F1 car and tested their racing skills on a F1 simulator in exchange for a small donation to Diabetes UK. These fantastic donations raised a whopping £970 as Donald Carmichael, managing director of McConechy’s, said:
“Thanks to the weather and the huge generosity of the festival goers we managed to raise a fantastic amount for Diabetes UK. With the 2009 championship in full swing, F1 fans young and old made the most of the exclusive opportunity to take the driving seat in the F1 car and simulator. The event was a huge success and we are looking forward to seeing everyone again in 2010!”
A HiQ franchisee raised more than £2000 for Breast Cancer Care at the Goodwood Festival of Speed recently. Richard Whittemore, who runs 10 HiQ centres in the south of England under his Elite Garages Group company, helped to generate £2,075 at the event, while checking hundreds of motorists’ tyres in an attempt to eliminate illegal tyre usage.
Richard took a team of fast fitters around the festival to check hundreds of tread depths and in return, visitors donated money to Breast Cancer Care – HiQ’s chosen charity for 2009. The initiative took place at Goodwood after a recent survey claimed that more than 3 million UK motorists are currently driving on illegal tyres.
UK Employees from Midlands tyre manufacturer Goodyear Dunlop have started work on raising £30,000 for the company’s chosen charity, the Teenage Cancer Trust, by abseiling down the 120ft side of Fort Dunlop in Birmingham. 12 associates from across the company took part to show their support of the company’s new corporate charity, including company directors Darren Hayes-Powell, Nigel Sowerby and group managing director Mark Brickhill.
Brickhill commented: “Having raised in excess of £5,000 in sponsorship from the event, I would like to thank all of those involved for conquering their fears and kick starting this fierce fundraising campaign. Teenage Cancer Trust is a fantastic charity, and we are thrilled to be supporting the development of a unit at Birmingham Children’s Hospital that will be the first in the county for 13 to 16 year olds.
“We have been so touched by the work that the charity does and I’m certain that all of our associates will get firmly behind the fundraising to help to make a difference to the lives of the young people who face this terrible illness.”
A week before the Formula One roadshow hit Silverstone, Carson Tyre & Autocare – part of the
First Stop network of tyre dealerships, hosted the event at department store Leekes, in Melksham, where they showcased a stunning replica F1 car and simulator to help raise money for charity. Visitors to the Saturday, 13 June event had the chance to have their picture taken by the F1 car and test their driving skills on the simulator – both for a small charity donation. Bridgestone has declared the event “a huge success”, raising £200 for the British Heart Foundation.
All visitors were presented with Bridgestone merchandise and given the chance to enter a prize draw to win an exclusive F1 factory tour of the Williams facility in Grove, Oxfordshire. First Stop representatives and Carson Tyre & Autocare staff, who were on hand during the day, also used the event to give out safety and product advice.
Circulations and Admin manager at Tyres & Accessories’ Stoke-on-Trent base Julie Wilshaw completed the annual Midnight to Sunrise Walk in the city on Friday 19 June to raise funds for the Douglas Macmillan Hospice in North Staffordshire. The hospice provides palliative care – care of patients whose disease no longer responds to curative treatment, and for whom the aim must be the best quality of life for them and their families according to the World Health Organisation – to those with cancer and other life-limiting diseases. She says that she wanted to complete the walk in memory of her mother and father and that the effects of cancer on friends had inspired her interest in the evening’s charity. Many others agreed, with the walk being completed by 1,500 area women.
At present, Wilshaw says she has raised £144, and while this represents a good initial figure, she has targeted £500 as a final amount. Anyone wishing to donate to the cause can do so at http://www.justgiving.com/juliewilshaw. Tyres & Accessories congratulates Julie for her achievements and wishes her the best of luck for her future charitable endeavours.
Wayne Thomas was appointed President of the Garage Equipment Association, (GEA), at their recent AGM, which was held at the GEA offices in Daventry, on 21 April 2009. Thomas takes over from Gary Shepherd, managing director of Rotary Lift UK, who has served as president for the past year. Thomas, who is currently managing director of GEMCO Equipment Ltd, commented: “The GEA has become recognised as our industry’s body, for example, it’s currently assessing and accrediting vehicle lift installation and service engineers. This accreditation scheme will drive-up the standards within our industry and provides our customers with greater peace of mind. During my term as president I will constantly influence the GEA in improving the standards of the garage equipment industry.”
Acting on the company’s nomination of Transaid for Bridgestone’s charity of 2009, two avid cyclists from the tyre manufacturer’s Midlands base are gearing up to cycle 420 kilometres across Zambia. Graham Hooper and Gary Grove are undertaking the Transaid Cycle Zambia Challenge, which will see them tackling all terrains – including off-roading through traditional Zambian villages – to help raise awareness and vital funds for the charity’s projects across the country.
The pair are hoping to raise £4,000 through donations from colleagues at Bridgestone, as well as family and friends, which will support Transaid’s work in Zambia, improving infrastructure and building local knowledge on the importance of road safety. In addition to the cycling challenge a number of other fundraising activities are to be organised by the firm throughout the year.
Avon Tyres helped to raise more than £200 for the Guide Dogs for the Blind charity recently by raffling off a set of ZZ3 high-performance tyres. The raffle was held via the National Tyres and Autocare (NTA) stand at a Yorkshire Water Health & Safety event. The set of ZZ3s was won by Mr Tim Wragg. Meanwhile, NTA account manager Terry Waite, presented Guide Dogs for the Blind branch organiser, Thelma Wilson, with a cheque for the £212 raised in the raffle.
Avon Tyres national account manager, James Steventon, said: “We were very pleased to be able to help out such a worthwhile cause with the prize of the ZZ3 tyres. The charity helps some 21,000 blind and partially-sighted people experience true independence every year, and NTA has always done a sterling job selling Avon Tyres across the UK.”
There’s no such thing as a free lunch, and for automotive industry charity BEN a dearth of funds in this period of recession has led to the cancellation of its 2009 lunch event. The BEN Annual Lunch, a thank you to supporters that have helped the charity over the previous year, is normally sponsored so as to not divert money from the main business of care and welfare. BEN reports, however, that the recession has affected its fundraising income, and that in these “difficult times” even its traditional supporters have needed to cut their costs.
Goodyear UK is to sponsor the Royal National Lifeboat Institution’s Flood Rescue Team, funding a raft of specialist training and equipment, synergistically linking the manufacturer’s emphasis on safety with its charity work. The RNLI’s Flood Rescue Team is a uniquely trained arm of the RNLI, able to operate worldwide to assist in rescues in flood hit areas. Having raised money for the charity in the past through tyre sales, Goodyear states that it is pleased to be taking the relationship a step further by supporting this vital service.
Goodyear UK brand manager Michelle Fisher said, “Through our previous fundraising for the RNLI we learned about the inland work carried out by the Flood Response Team, and the amazing help that they have given so many people in areas that you wouldn’t necessarily think could be affected by such dangers. There is great synergy between our organisations due to our own commitment to safety – our wet weather specialist tyres are designed to save people’s lives in wet conditions, RNLI volunteer crew members save people at sea around the coasts of UK and ROI every day.”
Goodyear Dunlop has celebrated surpassing its charity fundraising target, having raised £52,000 to build a new playground at Birmingham Children’s Hospital eight months ahead of schedule. The money has been raised through employee fund raising, company match funding and public events. Birmingham Children’s Hospital corporate fundraising manager, Fidelis Hynam said, “We have been exceptionally impressed by the fund raising efforts and commitment of Goodyear Dunlop and its employees and it is no surprise they have smashed their target so early.
“For the CAMHS patients and their families this dedicated outdoor space is a dream come true. With the average stay of a CAMHS patient being six months it is very important to have their own space where they can let off steam and importantly have fun. We cannot thank Goodyear Dunlop enough.”
Cooper brand Avon Tyres has agreed to supply motorcycle tyres to the Freewheelers Emergency Volunteer Service, a registered Charity which provides emergency out-of-hours medical transport throughout the West Country.
Freewheelers’ fleet of marked-up Yamaha FJR1300s, often referred to as “Blood Bikes”, provide lifesaving transport for urgently-needed items such as blood (as the name suggests) test samples, patient notes, X-rays and medical supplies. Avon will supply Storm-ST tyres, while JHS Racing at Keynsham will service Freewheelers’ duty bikes as well as fit them with the brand new rubber.
HiQ is aiming to raise £100,000 for Breast Cancer Care as part of a new partnership agreement between the tyre retail chain and the charity. HiQ made its ambitious pledge at the British Touring Car Championship media launch on 19 March, where the charity officially met franchisees and company bosses for the first time. Dozens of fundraising activities will be organised throughout the year to coincide with the BTCC calendar, and fast fitters across the HiQ network will be encouraged to take part in as many events as possible to swell the coffers at Breast Cancer Care. HiQ has set the £100,000 target, which will be achieved if every centre around the network can raise £500 during the course of the year.
Marketing manager Geraldine McGovern said the charity was the perfect fit for HiQ, as it reached out to a family audience: “We are all extremely excited with Project Pink and the opportunities that exist with Breast Cancer Care. We think the charity fits perfectly with what we are trying to achieve at HiQ. Not only is the charity close to all of our hearts, but no fast fit company reaches into the family market to help remove the intimidation associated with the fast fit sector.”
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