Supporting 40 charity initiatives in our 40th year

To mark this year’s milestone anniversary, teams across our businesses and branches have been digging deep to raise money for some fantastic charities and stepping far out of their comfort zone all for great causes.

It’s all been part of our aim to support 40 charity initiatives as we celebrated 40 years in business, with the NRL Group matching fundraising with £500 when colleagues brought in £500 of their own donations.

The final few months of the year saw many more colleagues complete fundraising events, as well as letting us support the wonderful charities in our communities who are helping others over the festive period and in their time of need.

We take a look at what’s been happening across the Group over the last few months, and the impact our campaign has made.

Recapping on quarter four

Despite the colder months setting in, it certainly didn’t deter our teams of fundraisers:

Woking complete the North Downs Way

After needing to reschedule their second venture out onto North Downs Way, with the team aiming to complete the remainder of the 23 kilometre route from Dorking to Guilford for the Dogs Trust, September’s planned walk was completed in November.

Making it a much tougher walk in wintery conditions, colleagues were still in high spirits – which was increased even more when the grand fundraising total came in at £1,061.25 including gift aid.

Having successfully completed three charity events as a team this year, we were delighted to share the additional £500 company donation.

A MINI adventure on the Wirral

For Lee Eastham, who works in NRL Group’s Support Office IT team, he clocked up the miles for his fundraiser in his freshly washed MINI car, joining wife Heidi along with other members of the Mersey MINI Club on their charity drive in November.

Travelling down the Wirral to Chester, the convoy of vehicles drew a lot of attention, and donations – and thanks to local businesses, club members and members of the public all getting involved, they were able to raise £1501.25, including gift aid, for BBC Children in Need.

Selling thousands of poppies in Wigan

Now a firm date in the calendar for our colleagues who are based in our Wigan office, the Poppy Appeal fortnight provides a great chance to head over the road to the nearby supermarket to set up shop and sell poppies to store visitors.

Together, NRL’s Wigan Recruitment branch, Linx business and Group Support Office booked in their annual charity leave to take it in turns selling on the stall and chatting with local residents.

Whilst the official fundraising total for the site is still being calculated, colleagues certainly exceeded the £500 target within the first few days – with thousands raised over the fortnight as shoppers bought poppies, wreaths and a range of merchandise on sale. As an armed forces friendly employer, and a signatory of the Armed Forces Covenant, we were extremely proud to reward their efforts with a £500 company donation to the Wigan Poppy Appeal.

Celebrating our NRL Group Award winners

Each year in December, the entire organisation gets together for the NRL Christmas Conference, providing an opportunity to meet up with colleagues, have updates from our CEO and reflect on everything we have achieved together in the year.

The highlight of everyone’s evening is the NRL Group Awards, where colleagues find out who the winners are, having had the chance to nominate their peers in several categories.

This year as our 40th anniversary celebrations continued, we wanted to ensure the winners of Rising Star of the Year and Unsung Hero of the Year took home not just a magnificent glass trophy and very deserving gift vouchers – but a lasting reminder of their award win. So we invited each of our finalists to nominate a chosen charity of their choice.

Congratulations to our Rising Star of the Year, Ellie White from our Rail Contracting business, who nominated Andy’s Man Club as her chosen charity, which we were delighted to make a £500 donation to.

The very well deserving Laura Smith from our Sunderland Recruitment business was declared our 2023 Unsung Hero of the Year at the event, with a £500 donation going to her chosen charity, the Foundation of Light.

Giving back to amazing local causes

With the fundraising target well over £40k by the end of November thanks to the generous and hard work of our colleagues, we decided to turn our focus to the community initiatives that we’re proud to have supported in recent years. This included The Girl’s Network, whom our North East Regional Director Emma Lowden has gained a huge amount of personal enjoyment from mentoring a young girl in her local area. As well as the High Tide Foundation who work with young children across the Teesside region. Whilst recognising the fantastic support Smart Works provides women in Greater Manchester and Newcastle to help them get back into employment. Each of them provide a valuable service to their communities and we were extremely pleased to include them in our 40 charity donations.

For many of our local branches, a collection for the local foodbank has also become a festive tradition each year, so in recognition of this we were encouraged to make donations to each of the foodbanks near our branches and business divisions. From Falkirk to Woking, County Wicklow to Cairo – with thanks for the support each of them provide those in our communities who are in crisis and in need of a friendly face, compassion and a warm meal.

A massive thank you to everyone

Reaching the end of our 40 charities campaign, it’s fantastic to see that collectively, and with company donations, colleagues have raised over £43,000 for so many worthwhile causes.

Giving back is a huge part of our culture here at the NRL Group, which wouldn’t be possible without the amazing people within our teams and the generosity of their family and friends.

Looking back on our 40th year in business we’ve celebrated some monumental achievements, but it’ll be hard to beat our 40 charities initiative when we look back at our memories of 2023.