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Garden Centres Raises More Than £100K For Martin House Children’s Hospice



Yorkshire Garden Centres has reached a major fundraising milestone after raising more than £106,000 for Martin House Children’s Hospice since the partnership began in April 2025.


Across its seven branches, colleagues and customers have thrown themselves behind the partnership, from bake sales and raffles to running, cycling and dragon boat racing. Each branch has its own charity champion and fundraising target, while the Pennies initiative gives customers the option to add 25p to their purchase at the checkout.


Staff have taken on individual challenges, including Dry January and the Great North Run, while CEO Mark Farnsworth has organised and joined cycling challenges. Colleagues also entered two sunflower-themed teams into Martin House’s Dragon Boat Race and took part in an in-store spinathon, cycling the equivalent distance from their stores to the hospice.


Last year, the company played a major part in Martin House’s 36-hour giving challenge for THE BUILD, raising more than £7,000.


Support has gone beyond fundraising too. Staff have donated items to Martin House’s retail team, contributed prizes to the Glitter Ball auction and donated Lego to the hospice. The company has also provided table centres for Martin House Ladies’ Lunches and welcomed children and families to Christmas events and the opening of its Otley Grass Hopper play centre. The partnership will run until June 2027.


Mark Farnsworth, CEO of Yorkshire Garden Centres, said:

“Reaching more than £100,000 is a fantastic milestone and is down to the enthusiasm of our colleagues, customers and charity champions across all seven of our centres.”

“Martin House does incredible work for children and families across Yorkshire, and our teams have really embraced the partnership. Whether it’s taking on a personal challenge, jumping into a dragon boat or simply asking customers to add 25p at the till, everyone has found their own way to get involved.”


“We’re incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved together so far and look forward to continuing our support.”


Hannah Finan, Partnership Manager at Martin House, said:

“We’re hugely grateful to everyone at Yorkshire Garden Centres for reaching this incredible milestone. What makes the partnership so special is the sheer variety of ways their teams have chosen to support us. From major fundraising challenges to donations, events and welcoming the families we support, their commitment has reached right across Martin House."

“More than £106,000 is an amazing achievement and will make a real difference to the children, young people and families who rely on our care.”


Each year, Martin House supports more than 550 children and young people with life-shortening conditions, and their families, across West, North and East Yorkshire.


Its specialist teams provide care at the hospice in Boston Spa, in hospitals and in families’ own homes, including planned short breaks, symptom management, emergency care and end-of-life care.


Providing this specialist care costs Martin House around £13 million every year, with the majority coming from voluntary donations and fundraising.


For further information about Martin House Children's Hospice and how to support it, visit here.

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Possobilities and The Courtyard Pantry, two north Glasgow based organisations who provide meals in some of Glasgow’s most deprived areas, have received a much-needed boost from the Allied Vehicles Charitable Trust to facilitate their breakfast club projects.


The Courtyard Pantry Enterprise relieves financial hardship by providing food security to those who need it most through the operation of a food pantry and community hub. Last year they received a £10,500 donation from the Trust to provide discounted goods, food, and refreshments to the local community.


Their breakfast club pilot will run from March until the end of June at their Pantry Hub premises in Wester Common, on weekday mornings. The aim is to provide an opportunity for children and parents to access good quality, nutritious food to help them maintain a balanced diet. Located near both High Park and St Cuthbert's Primary school, the Pantry Hub is in a prime location for parents and children to visit prior to heading to school. The Allied Vehicles Charitable Trust will help to subsidise the Courtyard Pantry’s Breakfast Club with a £3,000 donation.


Dale Todd, Managing Director of The Courtyard Pantry Enterprise, said

“We are delighted to have Allied Vehicles Charitable Trust support our Pre School Breakfast Club. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and we want to ensure that all children and their parents/guardians who live in and around Wester Common start their day on a full stomach.”

Possobilities, who have run local breakfast clubs in the past, will re-start the club in their Denmark Street building, serving local school children and their families a hot breakfast. The Trust has pledged a sum of £10,000 to get the club back up and running and provide accessible transport to school.


Melanie Fyfe, Manager at Possobilities, expressed the organisation’s gratitude for the funding, saying,

“A massive thank you to Allied Vehicles Charitable Trust for their generous donation and ongoing support to Possobilities. With this will be able to run a free healthy Breakfast club 5 days per week and provide transport to the local school in a fully accessible minibus."

“This is a major boost for us, the local community and local schools. The Trust’s support is invaluable to Possobilites, and to the wider community and we look forward to our continued work in the future.”


David Facenna, Director of Corporate Culture at Allied Vehicles Group added,

“The food offered by Possobilities and The Courtyard Pantry will, in many cases, be the only meal that families eat together, and a lot of the children in this area would not eat before school without access to these services."

"Allied Vehicles Group is a family business, and a local business with our roots in Possilpark, and we’re delighted to support these brilliant, family-focused, local initiatives.”


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