Volkswagen team pedal to Paris for cancer charity

A ladies night at a Bury St Edmunds car retailer helped raise over £1,000 for a cancer charity.

Over 125 ladies attended the event at Northgate Volkswagen as it was transformed into a venue to raise money for Macmillian Cancer Research.

The Ladies Pampering and Shopping Night was organised to help showcase the fundraising efforts of a team from Northgate Volkswagen who are taking part in the London to Paris cycle ride in July in aid of the charity.

Cars were moved aside as the showroom was converted into a pampering arena of beauty treatments, colour analysis sessions plus stalls of homemade crafts, gifts and jewellery.

Shaun Barlow, Joe Parmenter and Terry Scott from Bury St Edmunds hailed the event as a huge success as Volkswagen business manager, Shaun, explained.

He said: “We were overwhelmed with the response and the money raised.

“We are very grateful to our colleagues who helped sell tickets for the evening and kindly baked cakes as refreshments for our guests.

“We were delighted that so many local shops and suppliers supported the event, with over 22 different stalls and services there was plenty to keep everyone entertained.”

The £1,000 raised on the night was generated through tickets sales and a raffle supported by stall holders and Northgate Volkswagen.

Shaun, added: “The three of us all cycle but the 408km ride in July, which we have to complete in four days, is certainly a tough challenge for us.

“The money raised has certainly kick started our fundraising efforts as we have a target of £4,650. We are so pleased our employer was willing to let us take over the showroom for the night.

“There is a lot of organisation to events like this and a special thanks must go our work colleague, Amelia, who helped coordinate the stall holders.”

Robert Rolfe, brand manager at Northgate Volkswagen, added: “The spacious showroom provides plenty of space for this sort of event so we were more than happy to support our staff on their impressive charity challenge.”

To support Shaun, Joe and Terry donations can be made by visiting justgiving.com/northgatevolkswagen.

CEREDIGION CHILDREN TO BENEFIT FROM CHARITY

A Ceredigion children’s charity is now fully mobile thanks to The Big Lottery and Aberystwyth’s Volkswagen Van Centre, Anthony Motors.

RAY Ceredigion is the county’s lead organisation for the Child’s Play Project, a Big Lottery-funded programme that supports after school clubs, holiday play schemes and small communities across Wales.

The charity is using part of its Big Lottery funding to purchase and run two Volkswagen Transporters, taking delivery of them from Anthony Motors last week.

Gill Byrne, RAY Ceredigion’s executive officer, explained how the scheme works. She said: “The Child’s Play Project will deliver a fully funded mobile play project to communities across the county, as well as offering training to support local people to continue giving children opportunities to play and interact with each other in their local communities.

“The vans are a vital part of the programme, enabling our staff to take a range of play equipment out with them and provide assistance to small groups in many rural areas across Ceredigion.

“Over the next four years the vans will visit 48 different community play areas, delivering much needed active outdoor play sessions to hundreds of children in the county.

“We can’t thank The Big Lottery fund and Anthony Motors enough for helping put RAY Ceredigion in a position to deliver these services.

“The Volkswagen vans meet our exact requirements, with the quality and longevity to reach all areas of Ceredigion over the next four years.”

The Big Lottery funding for RAY Ceredigion totals almost £850,000, which will be spent on a team of seven staff, including five play workers, and the running costs of the vans.

Anthony Motors Volkswagen Van Centre’s head of business, Justin Manley, said: “We’re delighted to help, in a small way, the excellent work RAY Ceredigion will provide to the community over the next four years.

“Charities like this deserve support from local businesses to deliver beneficial facilities to Ceredigion’s children.”