Packetts Art Prize
Packetts has a long history with Bradford Grammar School; Neville Packett first attended the school in 1930 and went on to continue supporting the school with his wife Audrey into their nineties and until they both recently died. Packetts are keen to continue supporting the school and suggested the Packetts Art Prize in 2014. Pieces of art are selected annually from those created by A-level students during that school year. The winners are invited to visit the company’s offices to see their artwork on display in the company’s boardroom and be presented with a small prize. Their artwork will then remain on display until the following year when they will be returned to their creators and replaced with a fresh batch.
Our chosen Charities
Packetts have an active interest in supporting good causes and each year we undertake a variety of events and initiatives. In recent years we have cycled, walked, ran, skydived, baked, and played football – all to raise much needed money for worthy causes.
One in a Million
We are proud to be members of the One in a Million Corporate Partner programme, and each year dedicate all proceeds from our annual bike ride “Packetts Tour De Dales” – to this fantastic local charity.
One in a Million provides weekly sports, arts, education and enterprise programmes to children and young people from disadvantaged backgrounds in Bradford. Helping them break through barriers of deprivation and inequality in order to achieve their full potential, many of whom live in the top 1% most deprived areas in the UK. Through various community-based projects in eight centres across the Bradford area, they provide weekly “grass-roots” football and indoor athletics, “Kidz” Clubs, Dance and Educational and Creative Arts programmes. They have a committed band of trained volunteers and qualified coaches.
The Tour De Dales takes place in May each year, for riders of all standards over two days, setting off from our offices in Saltaire and finishing at Masham. It returns the following day, ending at Bradford City Football Club, home of One in a Million.
For more information on One in a Million please go to www.oneinamillion.org.uk.
Guide Dogs for the Blind
Over the past twelve months, Packetts staff have arranged a series of events to raise £5,000 to sponsor a Guide Dog. This included participating in the Bradford 10k run, quizzes, weekly dress down days, an office tuck shop selling healthy snacks and a blindfold challenge evening. In June staff, their families, clients, suppliers and other business contacts walked the 25km of the Leeds Liverpool canal towpath from Leeds City Station to our offices at Saltaire, representing our 25 year anniversary of working with Guide Dogs.
“We started our year of fund-raising to coincide with Guide Dogs Week,” says Packetts Managing Director, Marshall Sugden. “We’re now an official fund-raising partner for Guide Dogs, in what is the 85th year of the UK’s first guide dog partnerships. The funds raised were used to train a guide dog, who we called Sydney, after Sydney Packett the founder of the Packetts insurance business all those years ago.”
Leanne Ledger, Corporate Partnerships Officer at Guide Dogs, said: “Every hour, another person in the UK goes blind and when someone loses their sight, we make sure they don’t lose their freedom as well. We are delighted that Packetts has chosen us as their charity of the year because we rely on donations to continue our life-changing work. Every pound raised makes a difference to people living with sight loss. There is a huge need for our help, as there are almost two million people in the UK who are blind or partially sighted, a figure that could double by 2050.”
