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October
2017.
Garden centre staff smash their target for mental health charity

Garden centre staff smash their target for mental health charity

 

Kind-hearted staff at a destination garden centre near Bradford have completed an 18 kilometre walk to raise funds for a Shipley charity.

 

14 colleagues from Tong Garden Centre donned their walking boots for the trek round Ullswater in the Lake District and raised a total of£3,868.75 for The Cellar Trust in the process.

 

It took the group four hours and 13 minutes to finish the walk, and Marketing Assistant Pete Casci, who came up with the fundraising idea, was delighted with the final amount raised.

 

He said: "We're over the moon to have reached our target, almost doubling the £2,000 target that we set ourselves. It was a fun walk and a great day with fabulous colleagues, and all for The Cellar Trust - what's not to like?"

 

Andrew McCarthy, Head of Fundraising & Development at The Cellar Trust,is delighted with the amount raised and said: "It's really fantastic to have support from the Tong Garden Centre team. The partnership is making people across Bradford more aware of who we are, and how we can help people experiencing mental health problems.

 

"Tong's fundraising efforts have been amazing too. We need to raise around £300,000 each year to make sure we can keep delivering our life-saving, and life-changing services. The money raised by the Tong team's walk will help us do that."

The walkers and colleagues at the garden centre also held a successful treadmill fundraising weekend just days before the event in a bid to boost funds.

 

The Cellar Trust, a charity that helps peoplein the Bradford, Airedale, Wharfedale and Craven areas recovering from mental health problems to get back into work, is Tong's charity of the year. It started life as a project in the mid-1980s when a social worker wanted to help people with long-term mental health problems back into employment.

 

Tong Garden Centre pledged to raise £10,000 for the charity in 2017 after one of the Cellar Trust's placement students, Dion Magyar, was employed as a permanent member of staff at Tong.


Ends

 

Photo:The Tong walkers with Andrew McCarthy, centre Tong walkers with Andrew from Cellar Trust

 

For more information or to arrange an interview with Mark Casci, please contact Tracey Baty at three60 marketing on:

 

Direct line: 01430 871360

Mobile: 07971 961574

E mail:traceybaty@three60marketing.co.uk

Web:www.three60marketing.co.uk

 

Notes to editors

  1. For more information about Tong Garden Centre, please visitwww.tonggardencentre.co.ukand see the centre'sFacebook,Twitter,Instagramandnewsonline.

  2. Tong Garden Centre is one of the largest independent garden centres in Yorkshire, located near Bradford in West Yorkshire. It occupies a 17-acre site near Tong village. Anoutdoor plant department and shopping departments filled with garden furniture, gifts, home accessories and leading brands spread across 110,000 square feet of retail space. Also on-site is the Coffee Shop, Orchard Restaurant, children's outdoor adventure playground Grass Hoppers and a newly refurbished food hall.

  3. Tong Garden Centre triumphed at the North East and North West regional Garden Centre Association (GCA) awards with a haul of five awards: Garden Centre of the Year in Destination Garden Centre Category; the Dick Allen award for the Most Improved Centre; the ifse Award for Catering Excellence for Best Garden Centre Restaurant; the Gima Award for Best Garden Products retailer 2017 and the Outdoor Living Award for Best Outdoor Living Retailer.

  4. For more information about Tong Garden Centre's charity of the year 2016/17, The Cellar Trust, please visitwww.thecellartrust.org.