Wetherspoon’s staff and customers have reached an amazing milestone – raising £15-million for the company’s chosen charity – CLIC Sargent.
It means that, since the partnership began in 2002, fundraisers at Wetherspoon’s pubs across the UK have raised the equivalent of £1 million each year.
Pictured (left to right) at Amy’s House are CLIC Sargent representatives Geraldine Burns, Joanna Hancock, Fiona McCann, Kate Burns, Allison Rice, Gareth McEllduff and Sharon Reid, with Wetherspoon’s chief executive John Hutson (second right)
And the fundraising continues with charity events regularly taking place across our pubs and at head office.
Wetherspoon is CLIC Sargent’s longest-standing corporate partner.
Partnership
The partnership was founded when Wetherspoon’s chairman, Tim Martin, met the charity’s then chief executive, David Ellis, on a train journey.
The chance meeting led to the agreement of a fundraising partnership with an initial target of £500,000.
CLIC Sargent’s chief executive officer, Kate Lee, said: “We are blown away by the ongoing dedication and enthusiasm from Wetherspoon’s staff and customers.
“Every penny raised makes a life-changing difference to families, when a young person receives a cancer diagnosis.
Treatment
“Treatment can be long and gruelling… and often far from home.
“CLIC Sargent provides vital frontline services, support, free accommodation at our 10 homes-from-home and financial grants.
“Thanks to support from the likes of Wetherspoon, we can continue to limit the damage cancer causes to young people beyond their health.”
Pictured (left to right) at Paul’s House, a CLIC Sargent Home from Home, in London, are Barbara Krzywon (housekeeper), Caroline Walters (Wetherspoon’s head of personnel), Katalin Nagy (Paul’s House’s deputy house manager), Kate Lee (CLIC Sargent’s chief executive), Jemma Syms (CLIC Sargent’s corporate account manager) and Petra Csepes (housekeeper)
Tim Martin added: “We are extremely proud of the fact that we have raised £15-million for CLIC Sargent.
“Our staff and customers work tirelessly and participate in hundreds of fundraising events each year to ensure that we raise as much money as possible for this extremely important charity.”
Helped
One such young cancer patient, Ayesha McGregor, has been helped by CLIC Sargent.
The 20-year-old from North Ayrshire, Scotland, was supported by CLIC Sargent after she was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2015, when she was 18 and in her first year at university.
She received support from a CLIC Sargent social worker, who helped her with grants and benefit applications to lessen the financial impact of cancer treatment.
She said: “The £15-million milestone is amazing and it’s impossible to put into words how much the money means, as it helps so many young people like me.”