As an employee-owned community interest company with a mission of creating ‘Healthier Happier Communities’, our shareholding employees were able to nominate local activities to benefit from our Community Chest initiative. These activities could be clubs or associations, sports organisations, local branches of national institutions or other such activities that met our criteria but were themselves also contributing to the local community.

We’ve now ceased our Community Chest initiative and, with our elected Shareholder Impact Board, are considering how we might best fundraise and allocate future funds to initiatives that our shareholders feel most passionate about.

We’ve had plenty of fun with our Community Chest along the way and have been very proud to play our part in supporting:

Truro Ladies Hockey Club

When Nikki Honey, in our Smile Together Commercial Finance team, approached us for support for Truro Ladies Hockey Club we were only too pleased to help. The club has 57 registered players aged 13 years and upwards, who train every Tuesday evening and compete on Saturdays in the West Women’s Hockey League. The funds will go towards new kit for the members for both training and competing to enhance performance and safety.

Pictured here is captain Hayley Dee receiving our cheque from Smile Together Head of Marketing Tracy Wilson with long-standing club member and goalkeeper Grace Honey.

 The club are very welcoming towards new members – for more details please visit their website

Self Defence with Krav Maga Cornwall

We are delighted to be supporting this local self-defence club following an approach from Ellie Tswei in our corporate support team.  The club’s values are based on discipline, empowerment and helping one other reach a goal, be it to provide safety for loved ones, build self-confidence or even just the knowledge and ability to protect yourself should you need it.  Individuals can join the club and train on a weekly basis or Krav Maga Cornwall can come to you. In turn membership fees enable them to work in women’s refuge centres, safe homes of surviving trafficked victims, primary and secondary schools, and colleges. Our funding will go towards promotional materials for the club to help them further raise awareness of what they do to build their membership base and in return reach out to more people in both the local community as well as those in vulnerable communities nationally.