Weekly Community Roundup – 31st October 2019

It’s been another busy and fantastic week for our teams up and down the country as they engage with their local communities. This week we reflect on the lovely work they have been doing starting with

Solihull mayor toasts Thomas Bragg & Sons’ 150 years of service

Thomas Bragg & Sons Funeral Directors celebrated its 150th year serving Solihull by hosting a dress-to-impress ball, raising thousands of pounds for local charities.

One hundred people attended the ball at The Oak Hotel, including Solihull Mayor Councillor Stuart Davis and Mayoress Sarah Walker. Attendees raised £2,500 for The Royal British Legion and Dream Makers, the children’s charity, from buying entry and raffle tickets and the auctioning of a garden swimming pool.

Ian Sommerville, Area Development Manager of Thomas Bragg & Sons, said: “I would like to thank the many local companies who provided prizes, which meant we could raise so much money.”

Donated raffle prizes included a Wasps Rugby Club mascot package with four match tickets, tickets to Peter Pan at the Birmingham Rep, four rounds of golf and adventure park tickets.

Live music was performed by Suzi Lauder & The Krystaletts while local magician Mad Dom went table-to-table with party tricks.

After a four-course meal the mayor raised a glass to Thomas Bragg & Sons’ service to the community of Solihull. He said:

“Thomas Bragg & Sons is a well-established and well-known company in the borough, it’s no wonder they’ve been going for 150 years. I’m proud to recognise their long service to our town.”

Founded in 1869 as a builders and undertakers, Thomas Bragg & Sons was run by five generations of the Bragg family before becoming part of the Funeral Partners family of high-quality funeral homes in late 2015.

Ian concluded: “A big thank you to all who attended and helped make the event such a huge success.”

Coffee and cake by the seaside

Payne & Sons Eastbourne spread a little sunshine this September with their annual coffee morning in aid of Macmillan.

There was a delicious array of cakes and bakes enjoyed by members of the local community and key contacts with left-over cakes donated to the charity Mission 25 located next door and the local GP surgery for the staff to enjoy, as they were unable to attend.

A total of £83.20 was raised towards Macmillan Cancer Support which provides specialist health care, information and financial support to people affected by cancer.

Those in attendance took the opportunity to look around the branches unique Eastern Hall, a delightful legacy of the original cinema created a century ago. Eastern Hall is a beautifully spacious large room in which private services are held.

Muddy Dog Challenge

On Saturday 19th October Huddersfield Funeral Home Funeral Director Samantha Redman took part in the Muddy Dog Challenge for Battersea Dogs and Cats Home at Harewood House in Leeds.

The 2.5km Muddy obstacle course is a one of a kind muddy obstacle course specially designed for dogs to complete with their owners, to raise much needed funds for the well-known animal rescue centre.

Samantha, who entered as a dog-human duo has always rehomed rescue dogs and got very muddy for the benefit of Battersea Dogs and Cats home with her rescue Newfoundland Day-z who both trained tirelessly to make sure they were able to complete the course.

Samantha said: “It was amazing, I raised wonderful £170 for Battersea Dogs and Cats Home and had a great time doing it. It was a great day out and I am aiming to do the 5k run next year.”

Gifts for city mother and baby project

St Basils -Priory House in Hall Green were the recipients of items collected in by funeral arranger Jeanette Husselbee.

Jeanette started the appeal for the semi-independent mother and baby/toddler accommodation comprising of 11 units and was overwhelmed by the community response.

Jeanette said: “The local community are used to me collecting for various projects and they always support my endeavours. I want to help as many people as I can and this is such a worthy cause. They have since sent me a list of items that are desperately needed by the project and I will be continuing to support them. It’s such a great feeling to help others.”

A photo of Jeanette handing over the items to Progression Coach Jennifer Webster which included a car seat, Moses basket and clothes now takes pride of place in the office at St Basils.

Advent calendar collection

E Sargeant & Son kindly ask you to support their annual Christmas charity appeal. The team are appealing for donations of chocolate advent calendars for Home -Start Slough.

The charity have been providing support to families in need for 21 years and are the biggest local voluntary organisation to recruit and train volunteers to provide support and a listening ear to struggling families with children under five.

Donations can be made to our Slough branch between 0800 and 1700 Monday to Friday and 0830 and 1200 Saturdays up to and including the 21st November.

Your donations really will make a difference to local families and we thank you in advance for your kindness and generosity.

Officiant’s coffee morning

On Wednesday 30th October HAVEN in Acton hosted an officiant’s coffee morning.

The idea behind this was to network with Priests, and Celebrants in the local area, and also get to know about church events which HAVEN may be able to support.

Being in touch with the local community and understanding their needs is an important aspect of what the team do and to offer assistance when needed.

Macmillan coffee morning

AV Ridout made this October a little sweeter with their annual coffee morning in aid of Macmillan.

There was a delicious array of cakes and bakes enjoyed by members of the local community as well as clients past and present who turned out to support both Sandra and the charity.

A total of £15.36 was raised towards Macmillan Cancer Support which provides specialist health care, information and financial support to people affected by cancer.

Supporting St Luke’s

Sam and Lee from WH Putnam have been supporting St Luke’s hospice in Harrow since May 2019.

One of the ways the branch has supported the hospice is through the sale of Choice preneed funeral plans.

During an open day in August the team proudly showed off their premises and encouraged people to think about preneed planning. For every funeral plan sold a £50 donation was made to St Luke’s. There was also a bucket collection and raffle which helped bring the final total to £702.60.

A cheque was presented to the hospice team for the full amount which will go towards enabling St Luke’s Hospice to continue to help people in Brent and Harrow, who are living with illnesses which can no longer be cured, to have the best possible quality of life.