12 days of Christmas at Halewood

It was a busy December here in Halewood as we supported some amazing causes through our 12 Days of Christmas campaign.

It all kicked off on #GivingTuesday  where we took a look back at how much Halewood employees have given to the local community through Motorvate in 2019.  So far this year the Halewood Motorvate committee has donated an outstanding £22,600 to 73 local charities and donated a brand new Discovery Sport to voluntary rescue charity Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue Organisation. 

Neil Plews, Halewood's Alder Hey Children's Hospital and Charity champion and his colleague Mark Holian represented Halewood at a recognition event for fundraising companies as part of Alder Hey’s annual Christmas lights switch on. Neil and 15 colleagues recently raised £3,053 for Alder Hey by taking part in a Dragon Boat race.

We continued our festive celebrations with a group of students from Plantation Primary School visiting the plant. The choir, which comprises of young people aged 7-10, sang festive songs all around the plant. As well as performing in Trim and Final, the choir got up close and personal with a vehicle in offtrack and all managed to squeeze in for a cosy sing-song. They then headed to Escort Restaurant to entertain employees during their Christmas meals.

The Halewood AME team and contractor Santia hosted a cracking Christmas party for local pensioners. Around 50 pensioners from Fairfield Residents Association attended the party at Merseyside Police Sports & Social Association in Aigburth. As well as a delicious three course dinner with all the trimmings, the partygoers also had live entertainment, bingo and a Christmas raffle. One of the residents told us “A lot of the people here today have nobody at home and it can be so lonely. You’ve given them the chance to get out and socialise. We’ve all had a brilliant time. Thanks to everyone at Jaguar Land Rover for making this possible, you’re amazing!”

A volunteering team from Halewood’s AME facilities and VCATS added manger building to their CVs recently by putting their DIY skills to good use and helping to create the set for The Heaven Sent Nativity, hosted by Kirkby Christian Fellowship. A live nativity for school children and the general public which brings the story of Christmas to life with sights, authentic smells and costumes. Even the bad weather didn’t stop the volunteers bringing Bethlehem to Kirkby!

The plant hosted the Halewood Employees’ Charity Fund Dinner Dance at the Crowne Plaza in Liverpool city centre to raise money for local good causes.  The event, which was supported by 300 employees, suppliers and guests included an auction, raffle and live entertainment. The evening raised £14,000 which will be donated to local charities nominated by employees.  We also supporter our Employee Fund on Christmas Jumper day as colleagues got all festive to raise hundreds for this cracking fund.

Pat Loftus, Joiner, Central Shop, helped the homeless people in Liverpool this Christmas through the Whitechapel Centre Christmas Appeal.  The centre is based in Langsdale Street and last year reached out to over 4,000 homeless people in the surrounding area.   Generous colleagues in Halewood donated food, clothing, toiletries, non-perishable foods, pet supplies and household items to name a few.  

Our Halewood Santa’s then jumped into action (led by Martin Cunningham, Paint Shop) and donated an astonishing amount of toys for the fantastic local charity KIND which helps underprivileged children in Merseyside.  We’ve collected for this fantastic charity for the last 13 years and every year Halewood colleagues really spread the festive spirit.

We also supported our supplier IESA in their collection for Warrington Food Bank.  In Warrington there are 9,000 children living below the poverty line, last year Warrington Food Bank provided 72,731 meals to people in need with 35% of those meals going to children. 

It wouldn’t be Christmas in Halewood if we didn’t roll our sleeves up and do our bit for the brilliant charity An Hour for Others which encourages individuals and businesses to donate time, skills, resources or donations to create positive social change.  This year our Motorvate committee donated £500 for Christmas food and gifts for families in need and ten members of the committee gave their time and spent a few hours delivering gifts to local families in need.    

Here in Halewood though we know volunteering isn’t just for Christmas – we do it all year round!  This year we’ve really spread the community spirit with 500 passionate colleagues donating 4,600 hours which has positively impacted 3,715 people in our local community.  Those are big numbers and we couldn’t do it without you!  Thank you to everyone who has donated hours to help good causes – you’ve really made a difference.

Phew – that’s a busy month/year, but what a great way to celebrate Christmas by helping these fantastic local causes will really make a difference to people in our local community during this festive period and beyond – well done everyone!

Merry Christmas and Happy New year!

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