Making a difference: Birds' contribution to local communities and what's next

Being at the heart of our communities and raising money for both national and local charities has always been important to us. With your help, we raised a mighty £95,955.51 for good causes between April 2023/24 – which will make a real difference to people’s lives.

Whether you splashed out on a themed charity bake, carrier bag, or donated change to our fundraising boxes, every penny has counted towards this total. Here is a round-up of who we’ve supported so far:

• Mind Derby/Nottinghamshire: £63,123
• Turkey & Syria Appeal: £18,500
• Mind Collection Pots: £3,407.51
• Poppy Appeal: £800

From improving our community’s mental health to providing emergency aid during natural disasters and supporting our servicemen and women, we made a positive impact.

Rising together

When the Turkey and Syria earthquakes caused mass devastation in early 2023, we knew we had to help. The money raised went to provide food, water, medicine, and assistance to those affected.

We also raised funds for The Children’s Trust by taking part in the nationwide initiative National Doughnut Week. Our bakers whipped up a limited edition double chocolate crème pat-filled doughnut to tempt our customers. From each sale, 25p was donated to support children suffering from brain injury with rehabilitation and care, and building confidence through activities like music, crafts, day trips, and short breaks.

Mental health affects one in four adults in the UK. That’s why Mind was our chosen charity last year, and we raised over £63,000 for the Derby and Nottinghamshire branch. The donations were used for mental health and wellbeing services like crisis drop-ins, mindfulness, and activities to help reduce stress and provide our locals with a listening ear.

Day-to-day, we’ll continue to support our communities and local charities, but we also know that our staff and customers like to get behind one big charity campaign.

This is why we are proud to let you know that our chosen charity this year is Cancer Research. We will be raising funds for the charity until April next year to help in its journey to beat cancer. The donations will be used towards research, prevention, diagnosis, policy development, and awareness.

Last year’s total is a big one to beat – but we are ready to take on the challenge.