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Helping hand

A weekly round up of the charitable efforts of the North East’s business community.

NEWCASTLE Building Society staff have wrapped up a year-long fundraising effort by presenting a cheque for more than £24,500 to the Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS).

GNAAS was chosen by Society staff in April 2009 to be their dedicated charity for the year, with awide range of sponsored activities happening over the last 12 months. The events were organised by individual employees, teams and departments at the Newcastle’s head offices and 35 branches.

Fundraising events have included raffles, cake bakes, dress down days, a family fun day, a sponsored walk and a Summer Ball at the NewcastleGateshead Hilton, which was attended by business leaders from across the North East.

The Society also donated 10p from every online vote received for its recent AGM, at which the cheque for £24,770 was donated, beating the original target of £18,000. The cheque was presented to GNAAS by Michelle Paterson, a member of the Society’s Corporate and Social Responsibility (CSR) team.

Gillian Tiplady, Head of CSR at Newcastle Building Society, says: “It’s been a brilliant effort by everyone involved to raise so much more than we aimed to. It’s a hugely deserving cause and we’re extremely pleased to be able to make such a substantial contribution to GNAAS’ enormously valuable work.”

Meanwhile, a Northern Rock team are preparing to take on this year’s Northern Rock Cyclone Challenge ride to raise much needed funds for charity.

The 12 members of ‘Team Rock’, Northern Rock’s very own entry into this year’s event, will ride the 63-mile circular route together from Kingston Park in Newcastle and through the beautiful Northumberland countryside on Saturday 12th June.

Pedalling for charities such as the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation, the British Heart Foundation and Samaritans, Northern Rock’s corporate charity, the team hope to encourage people of all ages and abilities to sign up to take part in the event, which is on track to become the UK’s biggest ever sportive ride.

Team Rock participant Claire Jewitt, of Gateshead, said: “As well as improving our own personal fitness levels over the coming weeks the team also hopes to highlight the terrific fundraising opportunity which the Cyclone brings to the region.”

Also getting on their bikes are staff at Newcastle healthcare group Attends.

The group are taking part in a gruelling charity bike ride later this month to raise money for community projects in the poorest parts of India.

‘Team Attends’, from the disposable incontinence products manufacturer, will ride the 300km Vätternrundan in Motala, Sweden on June 18th and 19th.

The Attends team includes chief executive James Steele, group financial controller Andy Biggs and UK finance controller Simon Berry who are based at Attends headquarters at the Old Post Office in Newcastle city centre. In total ten staff from Attends, including eight from the European leadership team, will take part in the charity bike ride which is the largest recreational bike ride in the world, attracting around 20,000 participants.

SEND your charitable stories to andrew@bdaily.info.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .