Supporting the YHA with our very first fundraising festival

This year, our chosen charity is the Youth Hostel Association (YHA). We aim to donate £50,000 to support 250 young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to take part in their YHA Breaks Programme. £10,000 of this total will be achieved through employee fundraising.

To get things started we launched and celebrated our very first Foot Anstey Fundraising Festival which has raised over £4,000 so far! We had a varied programme of activities for our people to get involved with throughout the week!

Learning more about the YHA Breaks Programme

We began the week with an insightful Lunch and Learn session with the YHA's Senior Corporate and Regional Development Manager. We found out more about the YHA Breaks Programme and the impact it has on young people's lives.

The YHA Breaks Programme offers fully and partially funded trips for groups of young people and families facing challenges that make travel and adventure difficult to access. These opportunities provide much-needed respite and open doors to new experiences and personal growth.

The race to 306km

We had two exciting challenge events during the week. The Great Foot Anstey Ride saw a team of nine cyclists undertake a 306km ride from Truro to Bristol over two days. They were lucky not to have to brave the weather, but they still had to brave the hills and achy legs! And our Beat the bikers challenge saw 21 teams battle to beat them by aiming to cover 306km as a team throughout the week – they walked, cycling, swam and ran and racked up some impressive distances! There was even a bit of horse riding thrown in for good measure.

Sweepstakes and bakes

Colleagues from across the firm got their mixers at the ready to compete in our fundraising bake-off. It's safe to say we have some incredibly talented bakers at the firm and it was hard for our enthusiastic tasters to vote for their star bakers!

Plus, with the Euros in full swing, how could we not run a sweepstake! Each location had a friendly sweepstake and it's been a nail-biting few weeks awaiting the ultimate result – we can't help but be sad for England, but well done to Spain!

"It’s been fantastic to see so many people from across the firm get involved in our fundraising festival for the YHA. Everyone's efforts and contributions will make a big difference to our ultimate ambition to tackle social inclusion. The funds we raise will help young people access opportunities through the Breaks Programme, build their confidence and unlock their potential futures."

Bola Gibson, Executive Director of Responsible Business