Community & Charity WorkRead about Rees Astley's latest work in the community and charity events.

#volunteersweek

Lisa and Beverley continue to offer their services as volunteers at various Covid-19 vaccination centres in Wales and Shropshire.

Lisa “I am thoroughly enjoying volunteering at the Newtown Mass Vaccination Centre as a marshal and working alongside the staff for Powys Teaching Health Board. I enjoy being involved in charity work when I can. Covid-19 has been a test for us all and something never experienced of this magnitude in my lifetime . I wanted to help in whatever way I could to fight this awful virus. Everybody has come together so well and it feels like a little community, with everybody so supportive of one another”.

Beverley “I agree with Lisa, I am proud to be one of the 30,000 volunteers in Shropshire working alongside the NHS. I have met and made friends with so many people. Even though I get many words of thanks from patients grateful to me for giving up my spare time I feel honoured to part of the team".

Donation to Circus Starr

We feel very strongly about supporting our local community and we are pleased that our donation to Circus Starr will be used by disabled, vulnerable and underprivileged children to see this fantastic show in The Quarry, Shrewsbury on 30th September. We wish everyone a very enjoyable time.

Rees Astley golf day raises £1000 for Motor Neurone Disease Association.

As part of our 50th year birthday celebrations Rees Astley recently held a client golf day at Oswestry Golf Club which raised £1,000 for the Motor Neurone Disease Association (MNDA) charity.

Press Release: Company donates 50 toys to Christmas appeal to celebrate half century in business.

A kind-hearted Mid Wales and Shropshire company has ensured that 50 children from struggling Newtown families will receive a gift this Christmas.

As Rees Astley Ltd, Independent Financial Advisers and Insurance Brokers, will be celebrating its 50th birthday in 2019, the company decided to donate a toy for each year it has been in business.

The donation was made to Newtown Salvation Army’s Christmas Toy Appeal which is supporting local families who are struggling to buy gifts for their children this Christmas.

“So far this winter the Salvation Army in Newtown has received 160 referrals for children’s toys, so our 50 donations will go some way to meeting their target,” said Alun Hughes, a Rees Astley Ltd director. “We were very keen to support a charity that benefits local people.

“To celebrate the achievement of the significant milestone of 50 years in business serving Mid Wales and Shropshire, we intend to give something back to those communities by supporting selected local charities during 2019.”

Thanking Rees Astley, Colleen O’Brien, Newtown Salvation Army shop manager, said: “We were completely bowled over by their donation. When we get a generous donation like this, it’s almost as overwhelming for us as it is for the families that receive the toys.

“The families are struggling for different reasons. In addition to heart-wrenching stories, there are many examples of hardship. Often people can be working full-time, but their overheads don’t permit any luxuries in life.

“The toys that we provide take the pressure off parents and make a huge difference to the families.”
In addition to the toys, Newtown Salvation Army is collecting food for 80 hampers this Christmas. “Newtown people are unbelievably generous,” added Colleen. “There are people working tirelessly and thinking of others in need.”

Rees Astley Ltd, which employs 49 staff at offices in Newtown, Aberystwyth and Shrewsbury, is planning a series of events during 2019 and will also be supporting local charities to thank the communities for their support over the past 50 years.

Oktoberfest 2018‏.

Our 2nd year at Shrewsbury Oktoberfest was even bigger and better than last year, previously we had a cosy corner but this time we had Rees Astley Bush Tucker Trials – sometimes Insurance can be a jungle!   

Visitors had to take part in a trial which included spiders, slime(!) and a zebra sofa all to win a prize from our wheel of fortune, whilst also raising money for a wonderful local charity; Derwen College.

I loved organising our presence at this year's event, from making the slime and decorating the stand to organising the staff timetable, every little thing came together to create an incredible weekend for us, our clients and our visitors.

In total, we raised over £264.38 for Derwen College, who do amazing work for young people with learning difficulties enabling them to learn and achieve their aspirations.

Thank you to everyone that came along to say hi, completed the bush tucker trial and made a donation – you made the weekend amazing!

Mid Cheshire Hospitals Charity Dementia Appeal.

I was having a coffee with a couple of mates in October 2017 and one of them mentioned a new running event to  Stoke on Trent, the SOT Festival Of Running  https://www.facebook.com/SoTFoR/, which involved a 5k, a half marathon and a full marathon all on the  same day in July 2018

My last half marathon was 2016 and as this was 10 months way it was easy to say yes to the half. On a cold wet day in October I did not give much thought to the potential weather conditions.

With 10 weeks to go before the run I thought I better start training. Problem! The UK was having one of its hottest summers since 1976 so training became difficult and selective.

Following numerous runs along the canal in Cheshire, early morning and later evening ,  by the end of June I was up to 11 miles, a few runs at weekend in the sunshine to try and acclimatise to the heat  and a bizarre rescue of a cow stuck in the canal  trying to cool off all featured .

I also met Carole Salmon from MCH Charity  a few months before and thought their Dementia Appeal was such a good cause  that could help the local Cheshire community so they became my adopted charity.

So legs were ready and sponsors primed.  Temperatures on the day hit 29c, the hills seemed steeper than they should be and the water was not as wet! My target of 1 hour 49 slipped and I finished in 1 hour 52, very hot and disappointed. However I was delighted to later find out I finished 30th and more importantly my target of £400 is closer to £500 at the time of writing.

So thanks to Carole  at Mid Cheshire Hospitals Charity for the support in getting my sponsors set up, to Bill Mac and his team at SOTFR  for putting on  a great running event, to all that gave some cash and to my partner Penny who puts up with running talk and race diet without any complaints.

Roll on Next Year!

Pete Holdcroft - Account Executive

Rees Astley Heroes have fun raising funds for Severn Hospice at the 2018 Kapow event.

On Saturday April 21st Andrew, Chloe, Becca and Beverley ran, walked and jogged through the 5k Kapow event set out in the West Mid Showground, inclusive of 10 giant inflatable obstacles.

After registering we went over to the warm up stand for 15 minutes of stretches and kicks to sounds such as the Superman Dance by Black Lace. Following a safety briefing we headed to the start line for the countdown for our 10:15 start. Exciting!

With our masks and our capes on we laughed as we made our way over the course and the ten obstacles which included two slides - which were awesome.

At the end of the course we were presented with our well earned medals.

Our thanks go to Rees Astley who sponsored our entrance fee and to everyone who sponsored our walk, we are hoping that between the four of us we will have raised £250 for a very worthwhile cause.

Rees Astley raise £518 for Derwen College.

A thank you card from Derwen College

"Just wanted to drop a line to say a huge thanks for your fundraising at the recent Oktoberfest. We are all really grateful for your efforts. You have helped so much towards our target to repair the heating system in the swimming pool – a vital facility for students for therapies, recreation, training and sports."

Rees Astley director helps raise money for Parkinsons.

Rees Astley director Alun Hughes, his wife Llinos, Rhodri their son and the dogs completed the Parkinsons Walk. They walked 12 miles around Lake Vyrnwy and raised money for the charity.

RABI Charity Golf Day.

We supported the RABI Charity Golf Day on Friday 2nd June, along with twenty other teams from as far afield as Berkshire

It was our day and we managed to win the charity shield

Many thanks to the organisers , we enjoyed supporting the day and look forward to defending our title next year

Staff raise over £100 for BBC Children in Need

Staff from Rees Astley recently took part in fund raising activities for BBC Children in Need.

A total of £116.37 was raised for this very worthwhile cause.

Mollies of Newtown generously donated  a jar of sweets for our ‘guess the number of sweets competition’, staff enjoyed homemade Pudsey cakes and there was a  prize of £50 Love to Shop vouchers (kindly donated by Rees Astley) for the winner of a very entertaining quiz.

Rees Astley Chairty Bike Ride.

We consider ourselves reasonably lucky to have our health and be in a position of relative comfort and we have reached that age where we would like to give something back to those who are less fortunate.

We also want to have some fun along the way whilst achieving a personal goal which is challenging but not stupid. Hence this September we have decided to cycle Italy for charity! welcome to "Mike & Steve's Tour of Tuscany".