Charities pitch Dragon-style for firm’s support

FOUR charities were invited to give a Dragon’s Den-style pitch to the employees of a Derbyshire company so they could decide which to nominate as the firm’s chosen charity for the next two years.

Representatives from British Heart Foundation, Scope, Age UK and the Anthony Nolan Trust were invited to Lubrizol, in Hazelwood, to raise awareness about their work.

Now staff are voting for the charity they want the chemical company to adopt for the next two years after their partnership with Derbyshire Mind ends.

The firm expects to have raised in the region of £12,000 for the mental health charity by the end of the year.

During 2015 and 2016 staff at the company, based in Nether Lane, managed to collect a grand total of £13,215 for Macmillan Cancer Care.

Although only one charity will be adopted by the company, each of the four charities will be given a donation of £250 from Lubrizol, to thank them for attending the event.

Lubrizol spokesman Karen Clegg said: “Our hard-working fundraising committee voted for the four charities we invited in.

“They each had to have a good representative, clear ideas for how they would use any monies raised, and an active website with different approaches to fundraising.

“We wanted employees to make the final decision about who we should adopt, because these are the people who go above and beyond to raise money.

“We have had staff running marathons, organising cake sales, taking part in sponsored quizzes, a Christmas jumper day, a Wimbledon sweepstake, and an Easter egg hunt. We even had a penalty shoot-out with a professional footballer.

“Our staff have proven to be extremely prolific fundraisers over the past few years and I have no doubt that, regardless of which charity we decide to adopt, they will excel themselves once again.”