Colleagues at Manchester Airport have donated more than £10,000 of gifts to homeless people, care home residents and children from disadvantaged backgrounds following an appeal.

The airport has pledged that no vulnerable person in its neighbouring communities should wake up on Christmas morning without a gift. The pledge met an overwhelming response from airport staff who donated more than 1,000 presents.

The donated gifts included books, jigsaws, plush toys, Lego and colouring sets. The airport then matched this with around 1,000 more gifts.

Managing Director Chris Woodroofe and other senior management from the airport volunteered their time to wrap the mountain of presents, which have since been distributed to around a dozen community centres, care homes, family charities and foodbanks over the past week.

Age UK Manchester’s Crossacres Day Centre received 75 of the gifts, which will be shared among their clients, many of whom rely on the centre for social interaction and support with day-to-day living.

Zoe Jones, the Centre Manager, said: “Many of our day care clients are isolated, so we are their only contact with the outside world. These gifts will go a long way to making those people feel loved and valued this Christmas and will put a lot of smiles on a lot of faces, so we are extremely grateful to the staff at Manchester Airport for their generosity.”

Also benefitting is Marion Lauder House, a care home in Wythenshawe. Lee Stringfellow, a Director at Careconcepts which runs Marion Lauder House, said: “We currently have 79 residents and many of them can actually see the planes taking off from their bedrooms. We cater for people suffering from varying types of dementia and other mental health conditions and we’re proud to have a really good reputation locally, for the support and care we give to the people in our care.

“The Christmas presents donated by staff at Manchester Airport will be greatly appreciated by the residents, some of whom don’t have any family or friends to support them so this support is invaluable to them and indeed our staff team.”

A number of the gifts were also distributed to Family Action, which operates five Children’s Centres in Wythenshawe, supporting hundreds of parents and children from pregnancy to 5 years through individual and group activities, aiming to give children the best start in life.

Julie Philbin, a Locality Manager for the charity, said: “The ongoing cost of living crisis creates financial pressures that make Christmas a real worry for some of the families we support. The incredibly generous donation of toys from Manchester Airport’s staff means we can make sure that parents will have a gift to give to their children this year.”

Wythenshawe Foodbank was another recipient of donated gifts. Tony Petrou, a Trustee, explained: “We have been working hard to help feed the people in the local community and have tried to make sure no child is forgotten at this time of year. We’ve been giving out advent calendars and selection boxes but thanks to this donation we have also managed to extend this and offer toys to parents. This has helped us take some stress away from parents and make sure Santa visits more children this year.”

The airport’s Community Engagement team organised the collection and distribution of the gifts, and has also been involved in a number of other projects to support those living close to the airport in 2023. These have included an ‘Autumn Leaves’ lunch for people aged over 65 in the Woodhouse Park area, in an effort to combat social isolation in older age groups, and a ‘Little Book of Travel Tales’ to support children learning to read, which was shared with schools for free on World Book Day.

“We have fantastic people working for us at Manchester Airport and I am extremely proud of our colleagues’ response to this appeal. It is hugely important that our neighbouring communities share in the benefits of having a major international hub on their doorstep – and that doesn’t just mean through ease of access to travel, or increased employment opportunities. We very much see ourselves as an integral part of this community and that means offering a helping hand to those who might need it – not just at Christmas, but throughout the year.” Chris Woodroofe – Managing Director, Manchester Airport

 

Cheshire East Council is inviting residents and businesses to help shape the future, together, as part of its work to develop a new strategic plan for the borough.

The council is developing a new plan for a number of reasons including:

• The significant number of new elected members following the elections in May and a need to reflect post-election priorities.
• The changing context of which the council is now operating in, with regards to the financial challenge caused by factors such as rising inflation.
• A greater need to focus council resources to meet increased service demands and costs.
• Improvement in digital technology and artificial intelligence which the council need to safely and securely take advantage of to drive efficient service delivery.

The council is inviting its partners, residents, businesses, and customers to shape the priorities and ambitions of Cheshire East for the short, medium and long term, together through an online survey.

The survey can be found at https://surveys.cheshireeast.gov.uk/s/ShapingOurFuture23/ and is open until midnight on 15 December 2023.

Citation acknowledges the incredible achievements and contributions SMEs make across the North Cheshire region by sponsoring the ‘Small Business of the Year’ category at the North Cheshire Business Awards 2023, for the second year running.

As a leading provider of HR and Health & Safety advice and software services to small and medium sized businesses, Citation recognises the importance of championing start-ups and SMEs that shape the future and are the backbone of the UK economy.

Matt Stewart, Managing Director at Citation said:

“At Citation we believe small businesses are the beating heart of the communities we live and work in – for job creation, for innovation, for diversity, for boosting our economy. Our sponsorship aligns with our mission to build better businesses, for a better world, and we understand the important of identifying and recognising the enormous contribution small businesses make to society.”

Mark Barrow, Head of Sales at Citation added:

“It was a fantastic experience to be part of this year’s judging panel, a reminder of the wealth of talent in our region. Last month we got together to select the winners, and the calibre of entries made it extremely tough to narrow it down. Congratulations to each and every finalist who has made this year’s shortlist – you’ve set the bar high for what it means to be a champion in the business world.”

The annual awards will showcase key projects, people and businesses from the North Cheshire region at the Gala Ceremony at Cranage Hall in Cheshire on Thursday 24^th November – click here for more information about the evenings celebrations.

A team from Citation’s Wilmslow-based office will be in attendance with Mark Barrow, Head of Sales presenting the award for the sponsored category.

 

A total number of 14 graduates from North West universities have been recruited by bennettbrooks reflecting the continuing growth and expansion of the business.

The newly employed graduates bring their skills and fresh perspectives to the firm as they start their journey to become qualified chartered accountants. The bennettbrooks Graduate Academy provides a supportive learning environment with a hybrid approach to training and development including College study, on the job training, 1:1 coaching and soft skills training.

Many of the bennettbrooks team started their careers as graduates and are still employed by the business years later. The practice has a culture for supporting young professionals in their career development, offering opportunities for growth within the company.

Director and QPRT (Qualified Person Responsible for Training) George Wood:  “bennettbrooks continues to invest in our Graduate Training programme year on year and thrive on supporting and guiding our trainees to become the next generation of Chartered Accountants.  Our comprehensive training programme has been developed to provide first class technical training and opportunities to develop soft skills.”

Director and Head of People Development, Claire Hills expressed her enthusiasm about the recent additions to the team, “We are thrilled to welcome these talented graduates to bennettbrooks. Their energy, creativity and enthusiasm will undoubtedly contribute to our continued success and allow us to better serve our clients.”

Bennett Brooks & Co Limited was established in 1991 and provides accountancy and audit services, tax advice, payroll, corporate finance, forensic accountancy and IT support to businesses across the UK. They have eight offices across the North West and North Wales.