Staff from the Hexham branch of Newcastle Building Society have gone through the looking glass to raise money for a Tynedale charity.The team at the Beaumont Street branch held a Mad Hatter’s Tea Party to help raise money for the Corbridge Youth Initiative, which they have adopted as their dedicated charity for 2015.
Dressed as characters from Alice In Wonderland, members of the team offered cups of tea and cakes they’d baked themselves to customers in return for a donation, and also went out in character into the surrounding streets to get as many local people along to the event as they could.
Corbridge Youth Initiative provides youth-centred services in a rural setting, giving local young people aged between nine and 25 years old somewhere to go and something to do in a friendly, fun and safe environment.
The charity was adopted as the Hexham branch’s dedicated charity for the year as part of the Society’s ‘Cornerstone of the Community’ campaign, through which individual branches provide support to organisations and good causes in their local areas.
Over £600 has so far been raised for the CYI through a range of activities, and the Hexham branch team has events planned around both Halloween and Christmas to further boost this total.
The event also formed part of the branch’s involvement with ‘Remember A Charity In Your Will Week,’ which encourages people to think about leaving bequests to their favourite good causes and makes information available on the best ways to do so.
Branch manager Sarah Colvil says: “We got quite a few surprised looks from customers coming into the branch to find the people greeting them dressed as the White Rabbit, a flamingo or even Alice herself, but we also got a lot of laughs and our customers were very generous in supporting the cause.
“As a mutual organisation, our aim is to support the communities in which we operate, and the work done by the Corbridge Youth Initiative makes a big difference to a lot of families around our area.
“We’re really pleased to have raised so much for this very valuable local charity, and we’ve got more events in the diary which will help us boost the total even further.”