A Chester-le-Street based full-service creative agency has raised £15,000 for three North East charities as part of their 10th birthday celebrations.
The Works is celebrating 10 years of business and originally set a fundraising target in January to raise £10,000 over the course of their anniversary year for three chosen charities. But within just six months, the agency have not only achieved that target but exceeded it by an extra £5,000, thanks to funds raised at their birthday ball on June 17.
The black-tie event, held at Ramside Hall Hotel, was to thank staff, clients and suppliers for their support over the agency’s decade in business. Over £11,000 was raised on the night through raffles, games and an auction, which was added to just over £2,000 that staff had already raised prior to the event.
Managing partners of The Works, John Simpson, Barry Pollock and Ian Oswald topped up the figure on the night to make a grand total of £15,000, meaning each charity will receive at least £5,000.
All funds raised will be split between The Sir Bobby Robson Foundation – North East cancer research charity that works to find more effective ways to detect and treat cancer – The Rainbow Trust – a children’s charity that supports families who have a child up to 18 years of age with a life threatening or terminal illness and Under the Bridge – a homeless charity that provides a range of services to homeless and vulnerable people in Newcastle.
Barry Pollock, director at The Works, said: “It was an amazing night and we want to thank everyone that’s helped us smash our target. It’s fantastic how much we’ve raised in the first six months of our anniversary year and we couldn’t have done it without ongoing support from friends, family, clients and suppliers.”
John Simpson, director at The Works, added: “This is such a special year and a huge achievement for our agency – one that we’re really proud of. We really wanted to give something back to local causes and we’ve got three fantastic charities that our team chose to fundraise for.”
The Works started out in 2006 and since then has grown to an expanding team of over 20 who work with a variety of clients across the UK and provide a range of branding, marketing, advertising and digital services.
Last year, the company added web development and digital services to their portfolio by merging with Alnwick based web agency, Chocolate Grape, to form The Works Digital.
The agency started celebrating their achievement in January by launching their brand new website and enjoying their own version of a children’s 10th birthday party- complete with party games and retro party food. Fundraising activities in the year so far include selling homemade cakes and food, raffling off prizes and even a dare for one of the directors, a huge Sunderland fan, to wear a Newcastle United football shirt if £500 was raised (which it was).
Ian Oswald, director at The Works, added: “Although we’ve already beaten our target, we’re not stopping there! We have plenty more planned throughout our birthday year to keep the fundraising ball rolling.”