Ashtons Charitable Trust, the charitable trust set up by law firm Ashtons Legal seven years ago, has recently donated £11,000 to ten charities and causes across the Eastern region and one in Leeds where the firm also have a team trading as Heslop & Platt.
The money was raised in the main in the 2019/20 year through Ashtons Legal branded corporate and charity fundraising events, but also through staff supporting internal activities such as bake sales and social events. The highly regarded Cambridge Treasure Hunt was the last fundraising event to take place on 26th February 2020 before the national COVID lockdown was imposed.
The Ashtons Charitable Trust was set up in 2014 with the aim of giving something back to the communities which the firm’s staff live and work in. By way of grants and donations, the Trust supports charitable causes and community groups in Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Suffolk and Leeds (where Ashtons’ have offices). These charities and causes are supported in two ways – by staff nominating and voting for their Charities of the Year who receive an annual donation, and by direct applications from charities and groups which are considered once a year in the Autumn.
The six chosen Charities of the Year for 2020 were East Anglian Air Ambulance, Zoological Society of East Anglia, Inspire Suffolk, Suffolk Mind, Sunflowers Care Limited in Cambridge and St George’s Crypt in Leeds. Collectively, they received a total of £8,800 from the Trust with the remaining £2,200 being split between four direct applications from Star Throwers, a cancer charity in Wymondham, Norfolk, Maggie’s Cancer Centre in Cambridge, Something To Look Forward To, another cancer charity in Cambridge and Norfolk SEN Network.
The Ashtons Charitable Trust, following an overwhelmingly positive vote by staff, has decided to continue to support our Charities of the Year for a second term throughout 2021.
Chairperson of the CSR Committee, Janette Wand, said: “Due to the pandemic and the huge loss in only what can be described as a time of crisis for most charitable organisations in the UK, it is more important than ever to offer our support to the charities and causes that our staff chose. We all therefore felt it was vital we shared existing funds and we really hope to be able to fundraise to support these causes again in 2021.”