28 Upgrade | Charity

Charity

We are a proud Royal British Legion - Centenary Partner

Charity

So far our brilliant customers and staff have helped raise an amazing £35,451.37! for the Royal British Legion! Thank you!!

…So far the team have

  • crewed a Poppy stand outside Sainsburys in Farnham. Thanks to those that said hello and especially those that bought Poppies - together we raised an awesome £1035.50 in just one day !
  • again printed and distributed our RBLi printed Christmas cards all cued to hit the desks for 1st Dec!
  • Engaged in a brilliant company paintball civil-war fought over many scenarios and producing bruises aplenty! Old scores were settled but all hostility was left on the battlefield after we retreated to various hostelries to compare war wounds.
  • taken a stall at the village fete
  • held a mufti day, which rather got out of hand…not like the old school ones at all
  • run a sweepstake on the World Cup and the Grand National
  • plastered the Poppy logo over everything including our shirts and business brochures, posters, flyers and stationary
  • created banners to decorate the finish of a horse race and numerous stalls at outdoor displays
  • undertaken a raffle
  • organised donations via eBay
  • redirected all the business printing via Royal British Legion Industries
  • exclusively sponsored the October 'Jump 4 Heroes' skydive onto Guildford Cathedral to deliver the first Poppy of the 2014 Centenary commemoration
  • designed Christmas cards with proceeds to the RBL
  • sold poppies in nearby Farnham Town centre
  • Hadley Paine, John Kelly and Gary Baldwin have abseiled down Guildford Cathedral
  • two mad ladies completed a 300' bungee jump
  • along with the UK Govt and the RBL we marked the Centenary of the Gallipoli landings and the 70th Anniversaries of both VE Day and VJ Day
  • we have one chap doing a sponsored 100km run
  • yet again our banners and giant sail were to be seen at village fetes and festivals across the County - all printed by the wonderful RBLi
  • run a sweepstake on the Wimbledon tennis championships
  • run a sweepstake on the Rugby World Cup (bit a gambling theme going on...)
  • despatched a team of sales 'freshers' to the 2015 abseil down Guildford Cathedral. To donate click here
  • braved the weather again to sell Poppies in Farnham town
  • once more designed bespoke Christmas cards with proceeds going to the RBL
  • commissioned RBL / Upgrade Options branded ice-scrappers with proceeds going to the RBL
  • Run a sweepstake for the 2016 Grand National
  • Our first big fundraiser for 2016 was an outstanding success as a team of 10 Upgrade staff completed the London West 'Tough-Mudder', raising an awesome £2,325 for the Royal British Legion – for those that don't know what this is see toughmudder.co.uk. You should still be able to donate for a while if you wish at our JustGiving page.To see how it went why not check out the many pics and clips available on our Facebook & Twitter pages
  • Our European Cup sweepstake caused the normal stir and some pleasant surprises for the lady who drew Wales…and more cash for the RBL of course.www.justgiving.com/JohnKellyPoppy All donations go straight to the RBL so please give generously if you can.
  • Run yet another Grand National Sweepstake, which yet again the MD won and did not feel he could share, although the RBLi got their cut of course
  • ‘again exploited the football World Cup as an opportunity to hold an office sweepstake, Englands loss was the RBLs gain’
  • For the 5th consecutive year crewed a Poppy stand outside Sainsburys in Farnham! Thanks to those that said hello and especially those that bought Poppies - together we raised a sensational £1,129.99!
  • WE / YOU DID IT!  On 21st Sept the Upgrade Tough Mudder Team battled through 13 killer obstacles, ending with the horrendous Electric Shock dash / crawl.  The agony was worth it because at the time of writing our 54 wonderful donors had contributed a sensational £1,864!  If you’d like to donate, please visit https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/upgrade-options-ltd-rbl  If you want to see how we did it then feel free to have a laugh at our expense by visiting  https://animoto.com/play/hmiMw3aqoWkMfD0r8A1O7Q?autostart=1  and  https://animoto.com/play/qh8NvEVM5A0jNOKHES0S8w
  • Our 2019 annual poppy day sale raised a wonderful £707.40 – a huge thank you to the kind people of Farnham, Surrey for their continued support!
  • Whilst our 2020 poppy sales were cancelled by Covid, the team bounced back in 2021 to sell £921.44 worth in cash PLUS at least as much again by card. Thanks to Sainsburys Farnham for letting us pitch our stall and special thanks to the wonderful people of the town for once again digging deep for the cause!
  • Our Poppy Sales were scuppered in 2022 as there was no available shift for us to run. But I gather the RBL teams that did make it, did really well yet again, so big thanks to Sainsburys, Farnham, for allowing them to set up a stall and to their customers for their great generosity.
  • Undaunted, in December 2022, in addition to our monthly donation which has been running since 2014, we raised an additional £100 from the office World Cup sweepstake! What a final that was! Congratulations to both teams, especially the winners, Argentina!
  • 2023’s Poppy day was another great success with our gallant volunteers racking up £1,004.96 of donations for the RBL. A great achievement in the teeth of a cost of living crisis – Big thanks to the Farnham public
  • The Royal British Legion is a registered charity with registered charity No. 219279 (England and Wales).


In the pipeline for 2024…

As the challenges never diminish, neither will our determination to do our bit. Already our team are working on another feature fund-raiser, to, with your support, push ourselves and our contribution ever higher.

Royal British Legion

Another Poppy selling day will surely feature but before then we have the Grand National, Golf Masters and European Cup football to arrange fundraising sweepstakes around! And watch this space for a Vendor sponsored endurance event in the Summer……

Thank you to all our customers, suppliers, business partners, staff and their friends and to the amazing Royal British Legion too for their support this past year - you're all fabulous!

As well as working hard for our current charity partner, over the years, Upgrade Options staff are proud to have raised and donated money and or gifts to a number of local and National charities including the Salvation Army, Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice, Great Ormond Street Hospital, Red Nose Day, the RNLI, Macmillan Cancer, Potters Gate Childrens Centre, The Forces Childrens Trust, Wiltshire Air Ambulance, the Teenage Cancer Trust and the Sebastian's Action Trust.  Any charity interested in our support are invited to apply to legal_dept@upgrade.co.uk