Barrel rolls: Wiltshire based family brewer Wadworth has raised £6,000 for the Fly Navy Heritage Trust through sales of its Swordfish beer. The beer was named after one of the key aircraft flown by the Navy during the Second World War, and for each barrel sold Wadworth donated £5 to the charity. Wadworth CEO Chris Welham said: “Our close relationship with the Fly Navy Heritage Trust is very important to us and after three years we’re happy to see it go from strength to strength.”
Street life: Consultant Donna Hewitson is taking part in a whole host of fundraising activities to raise money for Retrak, which helps to improve the lives of street children in Africa and Team Margot, which campaigns for more people to donate stem cells and bone marrow. Hewitson, who has worked in the pub industry since she
was 15, is aiming to raise £4,000 to split between the two charities. She will be travelling to Kampala, Uganda later this year to help street children and train local staff on how they can improve children’s lives.
Chief encounter: JD Wetherspoon has hit the £12m mark in its fundraising work for children’s cancer charity CLIC Sargent, raising £850,000 a year since the partnership began in 2002. It all started with a chance meeting between JDW boss Tim Martin and the charity’s then chief executive, who sat opposite each other on a train. Inspired by the meeting, Martin originally set an initial fundraising goal of £500,000, but thanks to the overwhelming reaction from staff and customers the target has been raised each year. Recent events include a nationwide pub darts competition, football tournaments and Wig Wednesday, where staff will don wigs to raise money.
Name your pint: The King’s Head in Newton-under-Roseberry has teamed up with its local mountain rescue team by launching a competition allowing customers to name a new ale. The £1 entry will go to the Cleveland Mountain Rescue Team, and the ale will then be sold in the pub with 5p from each pint sold going to the charity. The organisation is made up entirely of unpaid volunteers who help those lost or injured on the North York Moors. Pub manager Paul Brown said the cause was close to the pub’s heart, as many of its customers walk or cycle on the North York Moors before coming in for a pint.
Royal hospitality: Greene King has announced it will be working with the Prince’s Trust to help unemployed young people find jobs in the pub sector. The ‘Get into Hospitality’ programme will offer 150 of the UK’s most disadvantaged 15 to 16-year-olds a chance to develop skills in the hospitality sector, achieve qualifications and will help them find jobs. Greene King aims to offer jobs and places on its apprenticeship scheme to as many people who do the course as possible. There will be 10 schemes offered around the country over the next year, with the first launching in London this month. Schemes in Liverpool, Portsmouth and Glasgow are set to follow.