Passionate Blog

Rugeley estate agent brings home £1,500 after charity bike ride

Pic cap: Jason Dibble (left) with Mike Kelly, preparing for the 140km bike ride in aid of the Prostate Cancer Charity.

As you know, over here at Passionate Media, we love to tell you about amazing people who have raised money for charity and we are delighted to report that a Rugeley estate agent took to his bike and cycled 140km to help raise £1,500 for a charity which had cared for one of his staff during a serious illness.

Jason Dibble, partner at Chase Independent, trained for more than six months in preparation for the Prostate Cancer Charity Tour Ride 2011, which took him all around Staffordshire on a single day.

The 40-year-old was spurred on by the care his sales negotiator, Mike Kelly, had received courtesy of the charity, when he fell ill with prostate cancer almost three years ago.

Singer Holly looking to hit right note in national contest

Pic cap: Holly Evans, from Great
Wyrley, who is set to compete in the regional finals of Open Mic 2011.

A young singer from Great Wyrley is dreaming
of hitting the big time after making it through to the regional finals of a
national talent competition.

Kids draw to ease crisis in East Africa

Picture by Hdptcar on flickr

By Terri-Anne Whitehouse

A new fun project tapping into kids' creativity is helping ease a humanitarian crisis in East Africa.

The project is called Kids Draw for East Africa and organisers are calling on parents to donate paintings and drawings by their (primary school age) children, to be auctioned online to willing grandparents, aunts, uncles and friends. They're hoping to raise £2,000 in six weeks.

New green business is born at Shropshire nursery

We were thrilled to see the website for Boningale Green Roofs go live this week, after a busy year of research and development by the company.

The business provides design advice and uniquely-grown plants needed to create green roofs, and has been working closely with experts from the University of Sheffield to help achieve sustainable roofs.

Hospice hunt for quiz teams

Know your trivia and like a bit of a challenge? Then Compton Hospice's Big Quiz Night should be right up your street.

The hospice is looking for teams to go along and pit their wits against one another to help raise cash.

You can enter teams of up to four players in the Big Quiz - you could take along some work pals, some family, even your own pub quiz team. 

The important thing really is the taking part, as you'll be helping Compton raise money as well as having lots of laughs.

The quiz is being held at the Copthorne Hotel in Brierley Hill, Dudley, on November 10, and with The Wolf’s Dicky Dodd compering the evening, it promises to be loads of fun.

Simon Cater, from Compton’s fundraising team, said they are hoping to get lots and lots of teams signed up, with prizes up for grabs for the winning team and runners- up, plus wooden spoons for the team that comes last.

“We want people to come along and have a load of fun – they don’t have to be experts in anything, the questions will be general knowledge, and there should be something there for everyone,” he said.

The fun starts between 7.30pm and 8pm on Thursday, November 10, and costs £20 per team.

To find out more, or enter your team, ring Simon Cater on 0845 2255497 or drop him an email at simoncater@compton-hospice.org.uk

 

Social media apprentices for hire!

 By Terri-Anne Whitehouse
Picture shows Andy, Anthony, Joe, Mel, Lauren, Ian from SSC Learning, and  trainer Carol (standing) from Passionate Media, Terri-Anne, Bethan, Abi and Sammy-Jo. 

Midlands businesses interested in finding out more about taking on a social media apprentice are invited to an employers' event in Birmingham on Friday.

Trainers SSC Learning are set to explain more about their innovative social media scheme to would be employers at the Birmingham Small Business Centre, Newhall Street, where presentations are being held at 8.30am, 10.30am and 12.30pm on Friday October 14.

Compton Hospice voucher booklet offers up to £250 of savings

Shoppers can save up to £250 from a range of 19 outlets across Wolverhampton with a new voucher booklet from Compton Hospice.

The £5 wallet-sized booklet includes money-off vouchers for restaurants, shops, beauty outlets, businesses and sport venues across the city. The vouchers include up to 25 per cent off or up to a £20 reduction, with all the proceeds going to the Wolverhampton charity.

The offers include any size pizza for £9.99 from Domino’s Pizza, 20 per cent off at JJB Sports, a free game at Strykers bowling alley, 15 per cent off at Grace and Glory fashion boutique, £10 off at Toni and Guy hairdressers and £15 off all design services at The Studio design and print.

Wolverhampton wheelie bin cleaning firm set to shine for Compton Hospice

The owner of a Wolverhampton wheelie bin cleaning firm is hoping to turn grime into cash for Compton Hospice in memory of his father.

Alan Tanner, 40, who runs the KDA Wheelie Bin Washing business from his home in Ecclestone Road, Wednesfield, is donating £1 from every £2 bin wash to the hospice.

His father, Richard Tanner, a father-of-three who lived in Fourth Avenue, Low Hill, Wolverhampton, was treated at the hospice before succumbing to cancer in 1990, aged just 47.

“I’m hoping we can literally make a few pounds out of rubbish for Compton Hospice,” said Mr Tanner, a father-of-one.

Two new franchisees for Musical Minis

Being a family orientated business ourselves, we love working with our client and sponsor of www.havealovelytime.com Musical Minis, and we are delighted to announce that there are two new franchisees now on board.

Jo Johnston and Gill Turcan are now running classes in Gloucestershire and South East Dorset respectively, and founder of Musical Minis Karen Sherr is thrilled to welcome them to the team and both ladies are very excited about becoming the latest franchisees to join this.

Birmingham cancer awareness programme smashes taboos among diverse communities

It's always a pleasure to help tell the story of efforts by individuals or teams which make a genuine difference.

We're delighted to report on work by Ambrose Koryang and his colleagues at Birmingham's Health Exchange, which is helping people from all sorts of backgrounds understand more about cancer and in some cases overcome a cultural stigma associated with this potentially devastating disease.

Here's our press release about how Health Exchange's innovative scheme has led to further work for Ambrose:

A one-year-old Birmingham programme empowering diverse communities to understand cancer is set to help smash more health taboos after reaching thousands of people.

Work by Ambrose Koryang and a team of staff at Birmingham-based Health Exchange has given raditionally ‘hard to reach’ communities more peace of mind about potentially devastating illness.