Community Relations
Because the West Yorkshire community will always form the heart of our business, we’ve built up a continuous community relations programme designed to help local organisations, projects and charities.
Because the West Yorkshire community will always form the heart of our business, we’ve built up a continuous community relations programme designed to help local organisations, projects and charities.
We’ve helped make a difference in a number of ways over the years, by donating funds to hospices, running school competitions and supporting community ventures. Most recently, we established the ‘Hands Up If You’re Against Bullying’ campaign to raise awareness of Anti-Bullying Week, which attracted support from Coronation Street’s Kym Ryder and Amarillo star Tony Christie among a host of other celebrities.
As a company that chooses to trade solely in our local area, we’ll continue to make a positive contribution to the local community in any way we can.
Projects
Below are some of the projects we have been involved in recently:
Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust
Kingfisher partnered with the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust to launch our new, sustainable FSC-approved Timber Collection. In addition to donating £500 to mark the start of the relationship, we are also planting a tree for every customer who buys from our new timber range.
St Gemma's Hospice
Kingfisher donated £770 to St Gemma’s Hospice in Leeds to fund seven days of community nurse home visits for a patient.
Hands Up If You're Against Bullying
Following the incredible success of our 2006 Hands Up If You’re Against Bullying campaign, we were contacted by a number of organisations, charities and customers who were eager to find out how the campaign would develop.
To meet this demand we worked closely with John Stead, regional Anti-Bullying Alliance coordinator and NSPCC education advisor, to create an online version of the campaign for 2007 and 2008.
West Yorkshire Schools Competition
We launched the Bullying Stops Here poster competition in 2006 to help children identify and understand bullying behaviour. The curriculum-based intiative, supported by the NSPCC, the Anti-Bullying Alliance and ChildLine, was open to hundreds of schools across West Yorkshire. Pupils from Year 6 classes were invited to come up with a colourful and imaginative design for an anti-bullying poster.
The Official Anti-Bullying Week
Following our successful Bullying Stops Here schools competition, we were invited to support the 2006 Official Anti-Bullying Week, backed by the NSPCC, ChildLine and the Anti-Bullying Alliance. With the issue of bullying so close to our heart, we set about creating a number of initiatives to help the cause.
Horsforth Live At Home Scheme
Long-time Kingfisher customer, Barbara McLaren, helps to run the Horsforth Live at Home Scheme; a service which provides a strong support network, social events and transport facilities for elderly residents, allowing them to keep their independence and stay in their homes for as long as possible.
Leeds College of Building
With construction excellence so crucial to our business, it’s important to us to support up-and-coming talent from centres of learning like the Leeds College of Building. Over the years we’ve sponsored the award for ‘Student of the Year for Painting and Decorating’, a high-profile accolade judged by Entry to Employment (E2E) tutors, as well as the annual Kingfisher Shield for Carpentry and Joinery.
