Having volunteered for a charity (Radio Wexham) for just over nine years, I have become quite familiar with the trials and tribulations of having to raise funds for a not-for-profit organisation. In fact, during these tough economic times the competition between charities to raise funds has become fierce. Simply getting volunteers to shake buckets at passers by on the streets is no longer enough to sustain a charity organisation’s activities.

I personally believe that voluntary and charity organisations offer many people the chance to be involved in activities that could be life changing.

Recently, through our work with veteran property developer, Peter Beckwith of PMB Holdings, to launch a new data centre in Milton Keynes, Berkeley PR was approached to help support the Wimbledon Civic Theatre Thrust (WCTT), a charity he is a trustee of.

The WCTT aims to improve access to performing arts for young people aged between 11-16 and  living in the local Merton and Wimbledon areas. The Trust focuses its work on individuals that have been potentially disadvantaged in some way, such as through physical, mental, social, financial and ethnic  issues, or even the inability to make friends and socialise. With famous patrons such as Sir Cliff Richard, June Whitfield, Lady Macmillan, Matthew Bourne and Tony Hawkes, the Trust relies fully on donations to continue its work.

As a young thespian myself, this cause stirred quite a few emotions and Berkeley PR agreed to partner with the Trust to help promote its community work to boost the vital funding needed to support each youth project in 2012. Hopefully our support will raise the group’s profile and position it as one of the leading independent charitable local youth groups in the UK.  

If you do have a spare five minutes, please have a look around the WCTT’s website (http://www.wctt.org.uk/index.html) and check out the upcoming projects. And if you are feeling generous please donate: http://www.wctt.org.uk/HTML/howtohelp.html

Melanie Johnson

Here at Berkeley PR, we’re big fans of anything that involves pastry. Whether it’s a sausage roll, doughnut or wild mushroom vol-au-vent, we all harbour a secret passion for anything pastry-related. So it came as no surprise to find that half the office avidly followed the Great British Bake-Off on television.

This event, which took place during January, saw twelve homebakers take part in a ‘bake off’ for Sport Relief 2012. The show tested every aspect of their baking skills as they battled it out to be crowned the Great British Bake-Off’s Best Amateur Baker.

Much to her amazement, radio presenter Anita Rani secured victory after producing a particularly tasty and stunning three-tiered chocolate and orange cake with chocolate ganache, and a sugar-paste teapot inspired by the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party.

In honour of Anita’s creation, we at Berkeley PR have launched our own version of the competition – the Great Berkeley Bake-Off. It’s taking place on Monday 30 January and will be just as competitive as the real thing, if not more so…

Although we won’t be in a tent or having to bake while wearing a blindfold, each contestent will need to prepare a cake of their choice before 13h00.  All cakes will be on sale in our office and in those of neighbouring companies, with slices going for £2 each (and all proceeds going to Sports Relief 2012.) 

If you’re in the Reading area, feel free to pop in!  The entries will be judged by CEO Chris Hewitt, and the winner will be announced next Monday at 15h00, so make sure you tune in for an update on how delicious (or horrid!) the cakes turn out.

Sports Relief 2012 runs between Friday 23rd to Sunday 25th March.

Denis 

As a dedicated hospital radio volunteer with Radio Wexham, I attended the HBA (Hospital Broadcasting Association) conference at the weekend. Yes this might be slightly geeky but actually I discovered that hospital radio has a very interesting history. It seems that it is not all about cheesy 80s radio disc jockeys with bad mullets but in fact started as far back as the 1900s. The earliest recorded hospital radio station commenced operations in May 1919 at the Walter Reed General Hospital, Washington, D.C.

The first hospital radio in the UK was started at York County Hospital in 1925, where headphones were provided to 200 beds across the hospital with 70 loudspeakers installed to allow patients to listen to sports commentaries (mainly football, typical!!) and church services. The one story that really stood out was the relay service in Jersey that was started during the German occupation of World War II. One man, against all odds set up a system to relay church services, musical recitals, variety shows, and children’s programmes to nine hospitals after wireless receivers had been banned and confiscated by the German occupying authorities. Risking your life to make sure patients are kept entertained…now that is dedication!!

Today, there are more than 2,500 hospital radio volunteers in the UK dedicating their time to over 230 stations up and down the country. What surprised me more than anything Read the rest of this entry »

Are corporates jumping on the...

Darren Cronian sparked an interesting debate on Travel Rants, questioning whether companies are donating to Haiti just to get some good PR or because they really care about the people affected by this devastating earthquake.

Companies who promote that they are donating to appeals like this (such as BA for its free chartered aid flights and Simon Cowell’s charity single) know they’ll receive some positive coverage as it’s a very newsworthy and topical issue.

But so what?  Does it really matter whether companies use an appeal to get additional exposure?  Every contribution for emergency appeals really help and generating awareness of donations is vital to raising money quickly.  Goodwill actions are received really well by the general public – remember how much positive feeling was created from the Live Aid appeal back in the eighties?

Charities like the Haiti appeal need PR and I don’t think that we should be too sceptical about the reasons behind the promotion.  Companies, regardless of size, have always publicised their charitable donations, sponsored wallks or parachute jumping – it’s good for a company’s CSR.

A straw poll of the Berkeley team today showed that our team agreed that it didn’t really matter why companies publicised their charitable effort, so long as it raised the money they needed. Emma Sinclair actually raised an interesting point by saying - if companies are going to make a significant donation then it’s fair enough to get exposure, otherwise the public will think that no one is trying to help. 

So, what do you think?  I”d be interested to see your responses to this ongoing debate.

Helen at Berkeley PR’s sister agency, Ascent PR, is conducting a DVD amnesty for the haematology day unit at her local hospital. The unit has some portable DVD units which are made available to patients undergoing chemotherapy (which can often last for 4-5 hours at a time) but don’t have the greatest collection of DVDs.

So… if you have ANY unwanted DVDs that you feel would be suitable (no filth please), please can you send them to me at the Berkeley PR office – address below, and I will pass them to Helen.

Paul Stallard
Berkeley PR
Sheraton House
Basingstoke Road
Three Mile Cross
Berkshire
RG7 1BA

In return for your DVDs I will list your name, DVD (name and shame) and provide a link to whatever site you would like us to link to….website, LinkedIn, Facebook, blog, Twitter or client.

I have got the ball rolling by visiting Asda yesterday lunch time and investing a whole £3 in The Bourne Supremacy…..cool film despite Matt Damon. DVDs cost next to nothing these days, in some cases less than a pint. Alternatively, I’m sure you all have piles of DVDs which you will never watch again. If you could donate just one you can still sell the rest on eBay and the patients at the Hospital will almost certainly really appreciate your donation.

Thanks in advance everyone
Paul Stallard.

Donations to date
• The Bourne Supremacy – Paul Stallard, Berkeley PR