Squire’s Supports Community Charities Raising Over £25,000

Squire’s Garden Centres has once again shown its support for local charitable causes in the community, through its ‘Charity of the Year’ programme, raising over £25,000 across its 16 centres and Group Office.

The initiative, which is now going into its thirteenth year, sees each centre choose a local charity to work with over the course of the year, running 1 August to 31 July.  Charitable organisations who are selected to partner with each of Squire’s 16 centres as well as Farnham-based Group Office, must meet specific criteria: –

• that they benefit local people with donations reaching a local cause (rather than funds going to a national pot)
• they must be a registered charity 
• they are a family or people-based charity or support the environment.

Martin Breddy, Managing Director, Squire’s Garden Centres, comments:  “I would like to congratulate colleagues on their brilliant efforts over the past year in showing their support for their chosen charity partners and hosting various events and activities. We couldn’t raise the fantastic amount we have without the generosity and support of our valued customers who assist in our fundraising efforts –  a very sincere thank you to them. I know the sums raised will make a big difference to our charity partners.” 

Cont’d …

As well as the crucial fundraising, working together often provides a platform to help communicate the charity’s work and relevance to local people and the community.  In some cases, there may be the opportunity for a charity’s clients to be involved with the centre providing valuable learning opportunities and experiences.

Funds raised over the course of the year comes from a variety of fundraising initiatives and are centre led.  These include charity boxes located in each centre, the annual ‘Plantathon’ event, ticket sales from Squire’s Christmas grottos, raffles and other customer-facing activities. Centre teams also have taken on larger events and initiatives, which, over the last 12 months have included a physical challenge of walking to the summit of Mount Snowdon, a staff member running a 10k race, a pop-up shop selling donated Christmas gifts and a charity partner’s gardening club visiting a centre to experience potting-up and selling planted containers.

Sarah Squire, Chairman, Squire’s Garden Centres, comments:  “Squire’s colleagues have continued to support their local communities through their fundraising efforts in support of our ‘Charity of the Year’ programme. They strive to do their best, working in partnership with their chosen charities that play such an important role in the local community. Our ‘Charity of the Year’ programme is all about making a big difference for local people.”

In addition to this programme, Squire’s supports ‘Greenfingers Charity’, the national charity which builds gardens for children’s hospices as well as ‘Perennial’, which assists people who work or have worked in horticulture.  Squire’s also assists many local causes and events within their local communities in addition to the figure donated through the ‘Charity of the Year’ programme.

Charities supported last year by Squire’s Garden Centres, and total amount raised, were: