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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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Williams Racing is proud to confirm the 2025 line-up of the Williams Racing Driver Academy, with the stars of tomorrow all making a step up in their careers.


The Driver Academy has gone from strength-to-strength in recent years, adding several up-and-coming talents and seeing each driver further their development. Building on the Academy’s proud tradition of supporting young drivers, which most recently saw Franco Colapinto graduate to a full-time Formula 1 seat, the Academy will continue to offer best-in-class support to drivers through every stage of the motorsport ladder.


After his F1 weekend appearance in Abu Dhabi when he drove the FW46 in Free Practice for Williams, Luke Browning will make his full-time debut in FIA Formula 2 with Hitech GP for the 2025 season. This follows a strong 2024 campaign in Formula 3, achieving two Feature Race wins in Bahrain and Austria, then securing a seat in F2 for the final three races of the season, where he scored points on debut.


Lia Block will continue to represent the team for the 2025 F1 Academy season, racing with ART Grand Prix. Her debut year in open-wheel racing saw her make progress every time she hit the track, achieving fourth-place finishes in both races at the Singapore Grand Prix.


Alessandro Giusti will be stepping up to FIA Formula 3 with MP Motorsport following a hard-fought fourth-place finish in the Formula Regional European Championship last year. Achieving wins at Imola and Paul Ricard, plus five podium finishes, he will look to continue this positive trajectory into 2025.


Oleksandr Bondarev’s promising performances in karting and Formula 4 have earned him a seat with PREMA Racing in Italian and UAE F4 for the 2025 season. He has seen multiple successes in his career so far, being crowned CIK-FIA European Champion OKJ in 2023 and taking home the WSK Champions Cup in 2024, before stepping up to Italian F4 with PREMA Racing from Barcelona onwards.


Four of our Academy drivers will continue in karting for 2025. Sara Matsui, who completed her first season of OKNJ racing in Europe last year and made the transition to OKN, will compete in the OK class for 2025. New additions to the Academy, Dean Hoogendoorn and Will Green, will compete in the OKJ series, while Lucas Palacio will race in OKJ–N.


Sven Smeets, Sporting Director commented:

“We’re excited to confirm our Williams Racing Driver Academy drivers for this year, and proud to showcase the amount of talent and promise in each of our drivers. The Academy is central to our commitment to shaping the future of our sport, supporting them both on and off the track. We’re looking forward to following all the drivers’ progress throughout this 2025 season.”

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  • Luke Browning (UK, age 22) – F2, Hitech GP

  • Lia Block (USA, age 18) – F1 Academy, ART Grand Prix

  • Alessandro Giusti (France, age 18) – F3, MP Motorsport

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  • Will Green (UK, age 11) – OKJ karting

  • Lucas Palacio (USA, age 11) – OKJ-N karting

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