The 2014 Awards - What the Charities said....

We were delighted to receive these kind messages from charities who took part, following the awards.

Ailsa O'Connor, fundraiser,  The Churn Project
As a small grass-roots organisation working in a single town, we've tended to steer away from awards schemes but when we heard about the Jelf Local Business Charity award we thought it would be a great opportunity to acknowledge the support we've had from a local business, solicitors Sewell Mullings Logie. We couldn't have been more surprised and delighted to hear that our entry was the winning one!  

The awards evening itself was really special - great location, very relaxed, lovely people and, of course, hugely exciting to hear our entry being announced as the winner.  We'd sat at the back of the crowd feeling truly humbled by the descriptions of the competing entries.  It still feels unreal to think about it.  The judges made some lovely comments and what was particularly gratifying was that, although our business charity partnership hadn't generated a huge amount of money, it was the small gestures of support that had swung things in our favour.    It goes without saying that the award of £1000 was the icing on the cake.

One of the most important outcomes from our point of view was that it gave Sewell Mullings Logie public recognition for their kindness.  We've said our own thanks of course but this helped cement our partnership in a different way.

Zena Giles, Legacy Officer, Cobalt Health
'It's great what you are doing at Jelf, giving us the chance to big up the support we receive from our business community.

Kate Nairn, Sewell Mullings Logie Ailsa O'Connor, The Churn Project Fran Embleton-Smith, The Churn Project Morwenna Scott, Sewell Mullings Logie

Zena Giles, Cobalt Health Graham Kimber, Downtons Mary Petersen, Cobalth Health

Lyn Dance, Headteacher, The Milestone School
As a Gloucester based charity the 2014 Local Business Charity Awards provided us with a fantastic opportunity to seek public recognition for the local business [Britannia Construction] who support us.  We are so grateful for this support and feel that the generosity of the company and it's employees should be highlighted and rewarded. The nomination and subsequent 2nd place award also enabled us to raise the profile of the school and the work we do, and why such support is essential to us in ensuring we can meet the needs of our pupils with complex learning and physical difficulites. The awards evening was a great event; it was so well organised and the setting, food and entertainment were excellent.  It was a good opportunity to network and seek further support for the school and find out more about other local charities.

Phil McCabe, Britannia Construction, Lyn Dance, The Milestone School Paul Halfpenny, Britannia Construction Liz Miles, The Milestone School

Ian Black, The Nelson Trust, Derek Hyett, Eesi Goup Services, Caroline Penley, The Nelson Trust, Michael Gardener, Eesi Group Services

Ian Black, The Nelson Trust, Derek Hyett, Eesi Goup Services, Caroline Penley, The Nelson Trust, Michael Gardener, Eesi Group Services joined by Phil Barton, Jelf Insurance

 We were very honoured to be chosen to attend the awards and even though we came third we were made to feel like winners and got the same media coverage as the main winners.  The awards evening was a wonderful event (and we were very grateful the weather was good to us).  The hay bales and relaxed atmosphere for the ceremony was a welcome change. Maybe you could open up some new categories in future years but we will most definitely enter again in 2015 as it will be our 30th anniversary year and an award would top it off.
Jane Ellis, Trusts and Grants Officer, The Nelson Trust