Wear It Pink! 2020 Fundraiser for Breast Cancer Now

Breast Cancer Now’s wear it pink day is one of the biggest fundraising events in the UK, with this year’s taking place on Friday 23rd October.

Here at Walls and Floors, we ‘wore it pink’ and organised fundraising activities throughout our working day to raise money for the cause.

By having a bake sale, playing pink-themed games and having a ‘win it pink’ sweepstake, we managed to raise around £200 to donate to Breast Cancer Now.

The organiser of our wear it pink activities here was Karen, and we asked her for a few words on the fundraiser:

We take part in ‘wear it pink’ every year. I am always involved in any Cancer Research fundraiser as, like many of us, I have both lost close friends and family to the terrible illness, and also have had family and friends fight the fight and survive.

This year in particular has been a tough year for us all; getting together (socially distanced of course) to raise some money and have some fun at work has really boosted morale and brought us all closer. I am very proud to work with such kind and generous people.

Our photographer managed to grab some snaps of us in action. We all pitched in to help this worthwhile cause and made our efforts to support the charity in their aim to make breast cancer survivable by 2025.

Sales Team Raises £815 to Fight Cancer in Race for Life!

In June, some of the ladies from our Sales and Customer Service Teams took part in the Race for Life, to help fight cancer. Their team name is the ‘Quartz Queens’ (named after the popular Quartz floor tiles that they sell all day long over the phones). So far, they have raised a whopping £815 to go towards Cancer Research UK. Over to Farrar, one of the team, for the inside story…

‘On Sunday 9th June, the girls from the Internet Dept. got themselves organised and entered the Northampton Race for Life. Seeing that they were committing themselves to 5k of running (or in some cases walking) I thought it was only fair to go along and support them (that and I am all for a free T Shirt!). So we all went along to Abington Park, in Northampton.

Sadly, I know a number of people reading this blog like me will have been directly impacted by cancer. But, like me, you might also be motivated to take action. You don’t have to be an amazing runner or an amazing walker to take part in the Race for Life.

There are 5k and 10k options and you can even stroll the course at a leisurely pace if you like, so anyone who hasn’t done it before – I would recommend giving it a go.

So the day rolled around, we grabbed our pink T Shirts, glitter, tutu’s and headed to the park. It was such as great atmosphere – a sunny and bright day and the park had an awesome festival feeling.

I think it’s only fitting for me to talk about who we were battling for.

Walls and Floors raise £561 for the Macmillan Coffee Morning

There’s not many people who haven’t heard of Macmillan Cancer Support. The work they do to support the lives of families living with cancer is fantastic. They provide everything from help and advice when it comes to jobs and financing, counselling and support for those affected, and, of course, nursing support when the cancer patients need it the most. But they need constant financial support, to help keep up the great work.

On Friday 26th September 2014, they hosted the Macmillan Coffee Morning throughout the UK. Businesses and homes all over Britain could send off for their packs and get involved. On the day of the event, twitter was alive with photos of cakes, tea and coffee from participants across the nation; with the hashtags #MacmillanCoffeeMorning and #CoffeeMorning trending.

At Walls and Floors, members of our Sales Department and Customer Service Team got their teeth stuck in! They were told that if they came in fancy dress, they wouldn’t have to pay anything. However, if they came in their regular mufti clothes, they’d have to pay £5 – which almost everybody did! Some members of the team even donated their entire day’s commission to the cause.

Everybody was invited to bring in cakes, to sell off throughout the entire company. Several tables in the sales office were filled with delicious baked goodies; topped with icing. Priced at £1.00 for a cupcake or slice of cake, the money soon started to roll in – with managers and members of other departments coming up to make their contributions. There was a sheet where members of staff could write down their details and individual donations – allowing for Gift Aid, too.

To help boost the donations, the manager and team leaders in the Sales Team offered to do a tea run for the whole department every hour, for a price of £2.00.

At the end of the day, when everything was added up, and with very few cakes left, Walls and Floors had managed to collect £561.10 to put towards this fantastic cause. A big well done to the Sales Department and Customer Service Team for putting this together!

Walls and Floors Designer Raises £230 for Breast Cancer Appeal

Started back in 2002, the Crazy Hats Breast Cancer Appeal is a charity that raises money for breast cancer care in Northamptonshire; the county where Walls and Floors first opened its doors, and where its headquarters are based to this day. Since starting its efforts, the charity has raised over £2,000,000 – a phenomenal amount. Every year, the charity hosts a fundraiser walk to help raise money to fight this terrible disease, and to aid support centres throughout the county.

This year, the Crazy Hats walk was hosted at Wicksteed Park in Kettering. On Easter Sunday, 2,000 women turned up in force; each donning a ‘crazy’ and sometimes hand-crafted hat. Among them was a key member of our design team; Susie Holland. Susie has been part of our team for over two years; producing fantastic creatives and coming up with engaging marketing schemes. She sported her Easter-themed nest bonnet, which was filled with faux chicks and a bunny.

Off her own back, she raised £115 in donations from friends, family and colleagues. Walls and Floors have doubled this amount to £230, to help support this fantastic cause.

Richard Greenbank, director at Walls and Floors, said: ‘We pride ourselves on supporting our staff members in their charitable causes. When we heard that Susie was raising money for such an incredible charity that has done so much for the local community, we were only too happy to double her donations. Well done to everyone who has supported Crazy Hats!’

If you would like to make a donation to the Crazy Hats Breast Cancer Appeal, visit their website. Be sure to get involved with the events they host, too!

Walls and Floors Raise £500 For Children in Need

Children in Need is one of the most famous fundraising events in the UK calendar; with it’s television shows dominating our screens throughout the months of October and November. Each year, thousands of people get together to raise funds for the fantastic charities and causes supported by Children in Need. On November 14th, the spectacular televisual bonanza raises millions upon millions; showcasing some of the world’s most talented artists and comedians, coming together to perform songs and comedy sketches – mixed in with touching, heart-melting appeal videos.

On Friday 14th November, the staff here at Walls and Floors came together to do their bit for this fantastic fundraiser. We took over £250 between the staff, and the company very kindly offered to double it – bringing our total to over £500!

Walls and Floors Raises £380 for Help for Heroes

You’ve probably heard of Help for Heroes. If you haven’t, or if you’re unclear what they do, they’re a charity established in 2007, whose goal is to provide support for the brave men and women injured in the line of duty.

The Walls and Floors Sales Department have chosen Help for Heroes as their dedicated charity. They’ll be raising money for this fantastic course throughout the course of the year, to help support wounded servicemen and their families…

This Halloween, the Walls and Floors Sales Department really got into the fundraiser spirit. They paid to come in in fancy dress, and hosted a yummy cake sale, too! By the end of the day, the Sales team managed to drum up a fantastic £380 to donate to Help for Heroes, so a big well done to them!

300km in 30 Days for Cancer Research UK

This year, Walls and Floors turns 30! We first opened our doors in 1987. To mark 30 years of being the leading tile specialists, we’ve set ourselves a special challenge to help raise money for Cancer Research UK! We aim to run 300km in just 30 days!

Our challenge: To run 300km in 30 days

Gavin Spencer, one of the directors at Walls and Floors, is leading a team of staff members on a spectacular and grueling 30 day challenge. Throughout April 2017, the team is going to run 10km a day around local locations, to reach the whopping 300km target. It’s all in aid of Cancer Research UK. We have a target of raising £10,000 for this fantastic charity.

‘I’ve chosen Cancer Research UK as the benefiting charity,’ says Gavin. ‘One day everybody will beat cancer, the more research they do, the sooner that day will come!’

The 300km target, which is more than the distance between Liverpool and London, is going to be hugely challenging for the team, who will run it in daily 10km stints, with no days off. They have started their training already, to work up to the big event in April.

Walls and Floors Donates Toys To Children’s Hospital Ward

In mid December, Walls and Floors was approached by a local charity, KGH Charity Fund, based in Kettering, where our Head Office is located. The charity was collecting toys to donate to the children’s wards at Kettering General Hospital. Dozens of children were too poorly to go home over Christmas, so to help brighten up their festive period, this charity wanted to bring in sack-fulls of toys, donated from local businesses.

The hospital stands right across the road from our building, and we offer up a section of our car park to the nurses who work there, so we were keen to help out. An email went around the building, asking for toys to be brought to the HR office. Within hours, with staff having nipped out to local supermarkets, the sofa in the HR room started to fill up with toys and gifts! Cuddly unicorns, teddy bears, selection boxes, a toy JCB, construction kits, fossil excavation sets; a complete mixture! We bagged it up, and gave it to KGH Charity Fund, to take across the road and distribute amongst the poorly children in Christmas Day.

We hope these toys helped to bring some happiness into the lives of these special, unwell little ones, and we wish them all very speedy recoveries!

Kettering Carnival: Walls and Floors Help Raise Money for the Blind!

Every year, thousands of Kettering locals flock to the streets to watch the carnival parade pass by – an endless stream of colourful and lively floats, mascots, costumes and marching bands.

Each year, Walls and Floors provides a truck to one of the local businesses, and together as we parade through the streets, we collect money for a worthwhile charity. This year, we teamed up with Jollyes Petfood Superstores – a local shop which provides food, toys and bedding for pets at low prices. The theme was 101 dalmations, and the store’s staff dressed up as the celebrated spotted dogs. Cruella deVille made an appearance, too! We raised a great amount for the blind, and we were awarded the Best Float Award by the mayor of Kettering.