The Brain Charity

At The Brain Charity, we have been proud to develop a number of relationships with local and national businesses who believe in our mission to support the 1 in 6 living with a neurological condition. 

Continuing our relationship established in 2023, hotel brands Malmaison and Hotel du Vin brought employees together to take on some more challenges in support of The Brain Charity.

The Good Care Group, Oxford Aunts and Cherished Home Care, a family of home care service providers, chose The Brain Charity as their charity of the year inspired by their experiences of supporting clients living with dementia, Parkinson’s and multiple sclerosis.

Frasers Property UK, a commercial property real estate group, launched our relationship with an International Women’s Day presentation focused on this year’s theme of Inspiring Inclusion.

St Helens based Longworth Building Services were keen to support a local charity and chose The Brain Charity after seeing our client videos online.

Here we look back on the highlights of their corporate fundraising this year and get excited about some of their upcoming plans for the festive season and beyond.

Scaling Snowdon

A group of hotel managers and head office staff from Malmaison and Hotel du Vin trekked up Mount Snowdon in August, raising £4,794. The group had so much fun, they already set their sights on conquering Ben Nevis next – before they even hit Snowdon’s peak!

People and Culture Manager Katie Thomas said:

“We did it!! 13.5km trek with an 1085m ascent with some scrambling up rocks added in for fun! Thank you to everyone who donated to help us raise over £4K for The Brain Charity.

“So so proud of the team, such a wonderful weekend with the best company and scenery! Now to get planning the next one!”

They weren’t the only business bit by the hiking bug this year. Longworth Building Services added a twist to the challenge by climbing Mount Snowdon overnight.

Battling 60mph winds and an eye-wateringly early start time of 3.45am, twelve brave employees including Managing Director Paul Smith made it to the top in time for sunrise.

They enjoyed descending through the clouds on their way down and raised a brilliant £3,458 in the process.

Trainers on

Hotel du Vin Glasgow at One Devonshire Gardens kicked off this year’s employee fundraising by taking on the Glasgow Kilt walk.

It was a great team building day, with four employees enjoying the Spring sunshine on their 14 mile walk through the city.

Deputy General Manager Mollie Mccaughley said:

“It was a great day and fab to raise money for The Brain Charity!”

Malmaison Belfast General Manager Eamonn Elliott, who last year tackled the Belfast Triathlon, chose to run the Tollymore Trail Marathon for this year’s challenge. The marathon is off-road and explores beautiful scenery featured in Game of Thrones and the Dungeons and Dragons movie.

The Good Care Group Care Manager Nichola Proctor ran her first ever marathon, taking part in the beautiful Yorkshire Marathon and raising over £250.

Nichola had worked with clients in the past who had benefitted from The Brain Charity’s services, so was delighted when her employer chose to support us, knowing first-hand the impact we have.

Frasers Property UK decided running wasn’t enough and took on the JLL Property Triathlon, adding swimming and cycling into the mix.

This annual event is a key fundraising challenge for the property industry with organisations from all over the UK supporting and promoting their chosen charities.

We were proud to be represented at the event by Frasers Property, who raised over £2,500 and had enormous fun.

Something a little different

Longworth Building Services were bouncing to support us – literally! A team of 30 staff and their families bounced into action by taking on the Inflatable 5k, a 5k fun run of obstacles to crawl, climb and spring over.

CSR committee member Chloe said:

“I think I can strongly say we all had so much fun… a few sore bodies were reported the next day, me included!”

Oxford Aunts held stalls at Summer carnivals and fetes across the Oxfordshire area, hosting bucket collections and raising awareness of The Brain Charity. At Eynsham Carnival they took part in the annual Shirt Race, the second oldest pram race in the country and came third overall.

A team from The Good Care Group’s head office also got stuck into Tough Mudder. They smashed the course and raised over £1,000 – although their The Brain Charity vests will never be the same again.

Many of our corporate supporters also took part in our Neuro Euros campaign this summer, organising sweepstakes for the men’s UEFA European Football Championship. Collectively, they raised £800 – congratulations to the winners and commiserations to whoever didn’t make it out of the group stage.

Getting festive

As we approach the end of the year, our corporate fundraisers are getting festive with plans to celebrate the upcoming holidays.

The Good Care Group will be hosting a Halloween bake sale while Oxford Aunts are planning to sell homemade crafts at Christmas fairs across Oxfordshire.

Longworth Building Services are sticking with the cake theme for their festive Bake-Off Competition, which they are planning to then run off at the Liverpool Santa Dash 5k.

More Santas are on their way, with runners from Brighton Malmaison and Hotel du Vin ready to put on their costumes and run along (Ho-Ho)Hove Beach in the Brighton Santa Dash.

Looking to the future

We are pleased to be ending this year on a high by announcing two new corporate relationships with AT Superstore, an online assistive technology retailer, and Deer Shed Festival, a creative festival held in Thirsk, North Yorkshire, featuring music, comedy, theatre and more.

We want to say a big thank you to all our corporate supporters for all their efforts this year – we can’t wait to see what 2025 brings!