How you can change a child’s life this Christmas
This is your chance to join a Gloucestershire charity's annual campaign that has galvanised scores of county businesses and is giving hope back to thousands of children this Christmas.
Dear readers,
On Monday we ran a story that got somewhat overshadowed by the announcement of the death of Sir David McMurtry that broke just as we went to publish, but the story in question discussed a very real crisis facing county charities.
It was one of our best-read stories yet and we hope raised the profile of the serious challenge up ahead for the sector in Gloucestershire put there by the Government’s Autumn Budget. You can read it here.
Before that we also ran a story about the millions of pounds sitting in the coffers of the county council and other local authorities in the county earmarked for building projects, and not being spent. You can read that here.
But with charities still in mind - not least because it’s Christmas - we have themed this edition on two good causes we think are well worth highlighting.
We also because we think they say something about the kind of county Gloucestershire is and the kind of people who live here.
The detail for campaigns like Hamper Scamper, at the heart of one of the stories, gives you a lens to see the county that shows just how much passion is here to help tackle the issues impacting our youngest and most helpless.
In other news, this week we attended the QuoLux Christmas event. It was a gathering of the cohort from the firm’s Lead, Gold and Gain leadership development programmes and a glimpse into a culture and network of probably the county’s best-connected, most dynamic teams. We’ll be running a report on it early next week to lift the lid a little more.
In the meantime, we hope you enjoy this edition. Have a great weekend.
Andrew Merrell (editor).
NB: Raikes publishes probably the best-read business-related email ‘newsletter’, pound for pound, in Gloucestershire.
If you have a story, an issue, a news item, a charity or an interview you want us to write about or investigate, challenge the powers that be on, then please email me: andrew.merrell@raikesjournal.co.uk.
How your pants can help Gloucestershire’s homeless
It’s not often you feel comfortable using the word ‘pants’ to describe a charity campaign, especially one aiming to help give a little dignity and respect back to Gloucestershire’s homeless, but that is exactly what it is. It's all about pants.
It speaks volumes of British humour that the idea of a campaign called ‘Underpants Under the Christmas Tree’ seems somehow to bring a smile to the face.
This is the amusingly titled push by Gloucester City Mission, supported by Eastgate Shopping Centre managers Colliers, to encourage donations of the aforementioned undergarments.
For those who don’t know, the Mission is the city centre based charity that supports our homeless all year round, and which runs the campaign to enable it to have something practical to give those it looks after through the difficult Christmas period.
Funny as it might be, the issues themselves are no laughing matter for the charity itself, which spends on average £6,000 a year on underwear for rough sleepers which it distributes through its restore Clothing Bank. In 2023 550 pairs of boxer shorts and briefs were handed out.
The campaign gave Raikes a chance to do what it is here to do, lift the lid a little on some of these snippets of news to bring you a little closer to some of the good work being done by those who would otherwise go unseen among us.
Louise MacKenzie, general manager at Gloucester City Mission, said: “We are based in the old Thomas Rich’s School house on Eastgate Street.”
Its facility are split over every floor, providing a place for health checks, for a showers, for a safe day-time sleep, a clothing bank, food, laundry service and even an opticians.
“And we have our teams that goes out at night with our trolley to make sure all the rough sleepers we know about are okay and whether they need anything,” said MacKenzie.
Revive coffee house in Eastgate Shopping Centre (near the doors where it opens onto Southgate Street) is where you will find the donation box for Undies Under The Christmas Tree.
Revive is more than just a cafe.
“We have three people working there who may have been homeless or are in recovery and it gives them purpose and helps them get back onto their feet,” said MacKenzie.
“Last year there were more than 800 visits to the homeless shelter. This year it’s been more than 1,000.
“Many of them have had terrible upbringings where a spiral into dependency was inevitable.
“Sometimes they will pop in and want nothing from us, just want a hug.
“We are here for them. Sometimes just knowing someone is there for you can mean the world.”
Jason Robinson, senior destination manager of the Eastgate Shopping Centre, said: “The Undies Under The Christmas Tree campaign is a fantastic charitable cause and one we’re only too happy to get behind once again.
“For those who venture into town and would love to get involved, there are many shops in the City that offer affordable underwear, including Primark, H&M and Marks & Spencer, and it really will help make someone’s day.”
You donate men’s boxer shorts, sizes medium or large, and women’s briefs, sizes small and medium at the drop-off point. The campaign will run until Saturday January 4.
Stuff to do this weekend…
Friday:
🎭 Described as a musical adventure for all the family - The Three Muskateers at The Barn Theatre, Cirencester, tonight from 7pm and on Saturday too.
🎭 Aladdin plays at The Everyman, Cheltenham, until Sunday 12 January, Cinderella at The Roses in Tewkesbury (including an ‘adult’ version tonight!),
Saturday:
🛍️ 🎄Gloucester Quays’ Christmas Market is set to open from 10am to 6pm.
🛍️🎄 A traditional Arts & Crafts Christmas Market will be on the Promenade in Cheltenham until December 22.
🏉 Gloucester Rugby play French side RC Vannes away in the Challenge Cup at 5.30pm.
🏉 Gloucester-Hartpury RC play Saracens at 2pm at Kingsholm.
⚽Cheltenham Town FC play Morcambe FC, Forest Green Rovers FC play Boston United and Gloucester City FC play Chertsey Town. All at home at 3pm.
🎺🎶 Pauline Black, lead singer of 2-Tone hit band The Selecter, tells her story at Gloucester Guildhall from 7pm.
Sunday:
☃️🎻🎶 The Berkeley Castle Orchestral Christmas Concert 2024 will take place on Sunday 15 December at 6pm with Reception from 5pm.
* Everything you read on The Raikes Journal is made possible by our incredible Founding Partners: QuoLux, Willans LLP, Gloucestershire College, Merrell People and Randall & Payne, our sponsors Hartpury University and Hartpury College, our Founding Members and wonderful paying subscribers.
If you upgrade to paid you’ll be part of this community interest company too. In an era when local journalism is all but gone and websites are covered in pop-ups and advertorials, lists and unedited press releases, we are dedicated to delivering quality journalism for Gloucestershire, to championing the county, in particular its businesses, charities, education and training providers, and to helping create an even stronger community. If you upgrade to paid you will be able to see past the paywalls often put on our second and third email editions of the week, that lock all our archive after two weeks and lock our rolling Top 100 Businesses in Gloucestershire series that follows the financial fortunes of our biggest firms by turnover. You will be able to comment on our stories too. You’ll be helping make this CIC sustainable.
If you sign up now you can take advantage of our 30 per cent off offer - and become a member for a year for just £84, which works out at £7 a month or £1.62 a week! Or go all in and become one of our Founding Partners or Founding Members, and overpay!
How to change a child’s life this Christmas
This is your chance to join a Gloucestershire charity's incredible annual campaign that has galvanised scores of county businesses and is giving hope back to thousands of children this Christmas.
“It hits me when I go up to The Grange and see the rows and stacks of gifts so neatly wrapped and I see each name tag – the name of real child. That is a moment,” said Cordell Ray.
Ray is the chief executive officer of Caring for Communities and People (CCP). The Cheltenham-based charity supports people across Gloucestershire and now beyond the county boundaries, and Christmas is an exceptionally busy time.
We’re talking about its annual Hamper Scamper appeal, which began by accident more than 10 years ago and has grown into something of a cult, in the best possible sense.
Businesses from across the county come together to create something incredible – the collection and delivery of thousands of boxes of gifts for children.
Ray cannot get over the generosity and dynamism of everyone who comes together to make it happen, but the sheer scale of the operation is a different thing. More presents mean more children in need – and this year it is on another level.
“We’ve seen a 35 per cent increase in requests. That means we need to reach 3,000 hampers – that’s 1,000 more than we were asked for last year (gifts are also up 12 per cent) and we struggled to meet the demand last year,” he said.
For those who might have assumed this was generous, well-meaning individuals randomly filling shoeboxes with best-guessed gifts think again.
“The way it works is referrals come to us from 60-plus different organisations, typically primary schools, other charities, refugee centres, health visitors, social workers, health professionals, GPs and support workers.
“Each is a personal request; each has a child’s name and what they would like.”
So widespread is the need now that those professionals now have access to the IRESS online portal, gifted by one of CCP’s business partners, on which to post requests.
“That information then comes through to us. This year it is 3,000 hampers and 2,000 children’s gifts that have been requested.
“We then look at those and send them out to our business partners – some 60 or 70 of them now – including the likes of Officeworx, Creed and St James’s Place - and they set about fulfilling those wishes.
“A small business might take responsibility for five or six parcels, whereas St James’s Place (the Cirencester-based wealth management firm) might look at 300 charity gifts.”
This is a campaign that started as a one-off offer from staff at Zurich in Cheltenham back in the 1990s to support CCP at Christmas and has growth into a county-wide movement, an army of businesses and volunteers way beyond what anyone would ever have thought.
Such is the scale that Regus, the owner of The Grange serviced office space at Bishops Cleeve, donates almost 6,000 square feet of floor space as a temporary depot for receiving, packing and collating those packages.
“The value of the space they give us is worth tens of thousands of pounds,” said Ray, crediting the generosity of Regus.
Rob Adkins is co-owner of Officeworx, the Cheltenham-based supplier of office supplies, catering, cleaning, DIY, furniture, packaging, paper, printer, stationery and more.
Adkins said: “We have been supporting the CCP for more than 10 years now. Paul (Berry, the technical director of the firm) and I did a number of charity rides, took a closer look at what the CCP does and have supported it ever since.
“It’s a charity in the community we serve and live. It’s our chance to support our community in another way. It does so much brilliant work.”
Katie Weyman, also works for Officeworx, which this year also donated the labels for each present and helped redesign the present boxes, said: “It still comes as a little bit of a shock the number of people who don’t even have the basics at Christmas.
“When you read some of the requests from children and it is for items like shower gel, perhaps a hat, or a football, you realise how big the difference is.
“A lot of people think Cheltenham is a wealthy place, but there are a lot of people in a lot of neighbourhoods who are struggling too.”
Ray, who was awarded an MBE in 2020 for his services to charity and the community, said: “This is now so big we (CCP) are just a broker through which thousands of people are helped.
“In St Paul’s (an area of Cheltenham) alone 35 per cent of children in that ward live in households that are defined as being in poverty. There are a lot of people out there struggling.
“This is a very simple thing that makes their lives a little bit more cheery. We like to call the gifts ‘a hug in a box’. It just a little thing that hopefully gives them a better tomorrow.”
Victoria Petkovic-Short, a director of county-based APT Marketing and PR, which has been working with CCP to support and service the charity and help drive the media around its campaign both professionally and as volunteers, said the scale was hard to grasp.
“It is colossal. When you think there are 3,000 hampers with five items in each, that’s 15,000 items. Each item is maybe £1.50, although some people spend more - that’s thousands of pounds.
“And all of that goes to children already identified as needing support. It is very powerful,” said Petkovic-Short.
“It really touches everyone – children in families that are dealing with the trauma of suicide, refugee children with no parents, children whose parents are veterans, or whose parents were in the armed forces who are now bereaved, families with children who have additional needs, perhaps learning difficulties or who are suffering from mental health issues, who are ill, whose parents are in hospital.
“There was one woman we met who a few years ago had ended up on her own, with three children and all the strife that came with that, and her children benefitted from Hamper Scamper at the time.
“She has managed to turn her life and around and last year she bought 10 gifts, that’s about £150, and donated them to Hamper Scamper as a way of paying back. It meant that much to her.”
Hannah Griffiths, head of actuarial reporting at St James’s Place, said: “We are committed to driving positive community impact, building social capital within our local communities.
“I’m proud that colleagues at SJP have been supporting Caring for Communities and People’s (CCP) Hamper Scamper initiative for more than a decade.
“Through the initiative CCP provides gifts for disadvantaged children in the local area, in an aim for every child to have a gift to unwrap this Christmas.”
Darren Stevens, of Prestbury Marketing, also a trustee of the CCP, said “The Hamper Scamper concept is fantastic and CCP do an amazing job of linking up with other charities to identify those who are struggling at this time of year, in Gloucestershire and beyond.
“Christmas is a great time for businesses to think of others and give that extra bit of help to the community.
“The response of the Gloucestershire business community to the appeal has been outstanding. Every time you look at social media you can see another business getting involved.”
Does it move Ray still, after all these years?
There is a pause for a while and I wonder if the phone line has gone dead.
“It hits me when I go up to The Grange and see the rows and stacks of gifts so neatly wrapped and I see each name on each tag – the name of real child. That is a moment.
“Someone has gone out and bought them a gift, someone they have never met and will never meet, and they have wrapped it with such care. It makes it tangible.”
Feeling inspired and think you have missed your chance to make a difference this year? You haven’t. Act now.
The CCP still needs another 600 of each of the following (see below) to reach its 3,000 goal, and it needs them by Tuesday!
That’s 1,000 extra boxes of biscuits.
1,000 extra cakes.
1,000 extra packs of savoury snacks.
1,000 boxes of chocolate.
and 1,000 extra hot drinks.
Find out more here.
The CCP also stages its annual Big Sleep Out charity event. That’s due to take place on 27 March. More on that soon.