Category: Charity

Today the O’Brien Charitable Trust Committee has presented the first donation from the monies raised in 2020, to the fantastic Freddie’s Wish Charity https://freddieswish.org/.

The Freddie’s Wish charity was set up by founder Charlotte Jolliffe whose son, 13 month old Freddie, was sadly taken in a tragic car accident in December 2014.

“Charlotte said: “Not long after I said my last goodbyes, I desperately wanted to seek help from other people that felt this intense emotional and physical pain I was feeling, but no one seemed to be willing to help me.”

Freddie’s Wish was set up with the aim to educate healthcare professionals and wider society in the importance of offering proactive support to bereaved parents to help them through the darkest of times.

Freddie’s wish formed a partnership with Child Bereavement UK https://www.childbereavementuk.org/ and also signpost bereaved relatives towards support that may be relevant to their specific circumstances or provide support to the family directly.

Freddie’s wish are also partnered with MDD First Aid http://www.mddfirstaid.co.uk/ to help fund first aid courses for parents/carers to give them the knowledge and skills to potentially save their child’s life.

“Sadly, Freddie ultimately lost his brave battle but the CPR administered by his Dad at the scene of the accident gave us all time to say our goodbye’s to him. This proves that doing something in an emergency first aid situation is always better than doing nothing!”

Charlotte said of the O’Brien Charitable Trust Donation:

“Thank you so much for offering a donation of £2,500 towards Freddie’s Wish, this is so incredibly generous and would make a huge difference to the charity.

In terms of how we would spend the £2.5k donation, we would wish to allocate it all towards the continued provision of free paediatric first aid sessions for anyone who looks after a child (parents, other relatives, friends, childminders etc.)

This contribution will help us to continue to provide free paediatric first aid awareness sessions throughout Warwickshire in conjunction with MDD First Aid .

So far, we have trained 650 people with essential paediatric first aid skills and the knowledge to be able to save their child’s life should they need to.

We are already fully booked until April with 2 courses running per month.

This funding could fully cover 7 paediatric first aid awareness courses at £360 per course, that would equate to approximately another 140 people being trained with vital skills for life.”

O’Brien were delighted to present a cheque for £4,000 to the Helping Hands Community Project this morning, as we continue to disburse the £30,000 raised in 2019 to good causes.

The Helping Hands Project is one which gets right to the heart of the community in Warwickshire, who work tirelessly to help the homeless and those less fortunate. This is a charity we have supported in previous years and we are delighted to donate to this great cause again this year.

HELPING HANDS COMMUNITY PROJECT

We believe
There is always hope for a better future
Everyone has a unique purpose
It feels good to do good
We’re in this with you for the whole journey
These are complex issues

The Helping Hands charity is all about local people helping local people in need. The charity gives people the support and opportunities to feel better about themselves, be more active in the community and get back into work.

Hand Up

The charity run a soup kitchen offering hot food and a listening ear. They like to give a hand up not just a handout through new skills, experience and qualifications.

House 2 Home Project

The volunteers for their ‘House 2 Home’ project support clients with goods, from fridges to furniture to recently homed and low-income families. People are referred to the charity by organisations like children’s centres, social services & domestic violence charities.

When people are re-homed, they are often given a place to stay but not all essentials like a fridge or bed. The generous community provides these goods that volunteers deliver to those who need it. This helps turn empty houses into homes!

Gateway Café

They run the Gateway Café where people can find a lovely welcome, and where they can enjoy coffee and cake to support the charity in helping people find a better future.

The Big Sleepout

The charity has organised the big sleep out for 5 years, with the latest taking place last month. ‘The Big Sleep Out’ helps the charity give the homeless and vulnerable adults in Leamington, Warwick and Kenilworth the chance of a better future.

To find out more about the Helping Hands Project: https://www.helpinghandscharity.org.uk/our-story/

Helping Hands said of the donation:

“A HUGE thank you to O’Brien who have presented us with a cheque for £4,000 for the second year running following all their fantastic fundraising efforts throughout the year. Their support in helping us to make a difference to local people in need has been phenomenal.  Thank you

O’Brien have been proud shirt sponsors of Leamington RFC since 2013.

https://www.pitchero.com/clubs/leamington/

Recent O’Brien Contractors Sponsorships for Individuals and Organisations (over £20,000 in the last 3 years).

• Ibstock United Juniors Football Club U9 Pumas: Sponsored Walk
• Northend Open Gardens Event (for the upkeep of the village hall)
• Long Itchington School Association Race Night
• KidSafe Road Safety Campaign Packs for Warwickshire Schools
• Sky Dive to raise money for ‘The Albion Foundation’
• Muddy Furlong 8km Obstacle Course for ‘Chestnut Tree House Children’s Hospice’
• Shoeboxes for the Homeless at Christmas – All office employees donated at least   one box each
• Shirt sponsors for Veseyans RC, charity game for RFU (Injured Players Foundation)   game against ‘The House of Lords Cricket Team’
• Mighty Macmillan Mighty Hike
• Leamington RFC

The trust has for the third year, since it was set up by the O’Brien staff in 2017 reached it’s target!

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED 

The Charitable Trust has now reached it’s 2019 target after a year of fundraising organised by the O’Brien Trust committee that is made up of staff members who give their time and dedication to reach that magic £15,000 target, so we can get another £15,000 from the O’Brien Directors once we reach that target, enabling us to give £30,000 to good causes.

WHAT WE DID TO REACH OUR TARGET

It has been a year of hard work to organising the various events.  The year kicked off in July with the Charity Golf Day which is always so competitive!  Our wonderful Charity Ball in the Great Hall at Warwick Castle where everyone dazzled us with their beautiful outfits.  We also had lots of smaller events, such as a Bake Sale organised by one of the staff, Movember, Christmas Jumper Day, the sale of homemade Christmas cake, and our Gold Bar Raffle.  We have had auctions at our events and outside of the events as well, it has been a busy year!

WE COULDN’T DO IT WITH OUT YOU!

Of course without the people who support us each year, we could not achieve these fantastic results and meet our targets.  Our suppliers, people who sponsor our events, those that purchase tickets to attend the events, people who donate the auction items, those that share our posts to help sell our tickets and get those bids in for the auction items, we could not do it without you, so: A GREAT BIG, HUGE, MASSIVE THANK YOU TO ALL OF YOU!

WHERE WILL THE MONEY GO!

In the new year we will be distributing the 2019 money that has been raised to our selected charitable organisations and we will keep you posted about where the money has gone and information on those organisations, so keep an eye out for information on that!

2020 EVENTS

We will also be announcing our events for 2020 in the New Year, which are currently being discussed. We hope that you are able to be as generous and supportive of the trust in the New Year and we look forward to seeing you at next years events!

O’Brien were the shirt sponsors for a charity game for the RFU (Injured Players Foundation).

‘Veseyans Rugby Club’ https://www.veseyansrugby.co.uk/ a casual team, made up of people from all walks of life (including our Operations Manager Tony Mitchell) and the ‘Commons and Lords RUFC, made up of MP’s, Lords and staff, took part in an exciting charity match at Twickenham where the Veseyans won 33-34 last week.

O’Brien were very proud to be a sponsor for this match!

Just in case you are wondering who Ronnie Poulton is, he was a fantastic Rugby Player! Follow the Link to read his story:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Poulton-Palmer

SMASHED IT! STAFF AT O’BRIEN CONTRACTORS RAISE ANOTHER £30,000 FOR CHARITY!

The staff at OBCL have repeated last years success and raised £15,000 from a series of organized events and challenges throughout 2018. Because the staff reached their target, O’Brien Contractors Limited generously matched the sum raised by staff, making a fabulous total of £30,000 for the O’Brien Charitable Trust good causes.

Events were organised throughout the year by our hard-working charity committee, made up of 7 members of staff, who work tirelessly throughout the year, organising events to raise much needed funds for our chosen charities. The events are enthusiastically supported by all staff and this year’s events, have included:Christmas Jumper Day – Which is very competitive!

Movember – Even the girls joined in with fake moustaches!
3 Peaks Challenge – Staff took to the hills!
Wolf Run – Staff got stuck in on the very wet and muddy course!
Charity Golf Day / Charity Auction – Staff took on our suppliers raising £8,523!
Site to Site Walk – Trekking 12-miles from our project site in Gaydon to Cubbington.

The charities that will benefit from this year’s fundraising events include:

Helping Hands Community – Helps local people in need
Molly Holly Wishes – Supports children with terminal & life-threatening illnesses
Warwickshire & Northamptonshire Air Ambulance – Rapid emergency response
Doorway Youth Homelessness – Supports homeless & vulnerable 16-25-year olds
Young People First – Works with disadvantaged & vulnerable young people
Guys Gift – Supports bereaved children

A special mention for their hard work and efforts to Kelly Davis, Michael Hughes, Berwyn, John Maxwell, Hessy Fakatou and Daniel Taylor, who have worked tirelessly throughout the year and whose huge drive for success have been instrumental in helping us reach our £15,000 target in 2018.

OBCL Managing Director, Peter O’Brien said: ‘We would like to thank everyone who participated and contributed to the success of us reaching our target again this year, everyone’s hard work and generosity enables us to donate much needed funds for good causes. We are looking forward to some fun activities in the new year to help us hit our target again for 2019.’

If you would like more information on the O’Brien Charitable Trust and our events, please click on our link for more information https://trust.obriencontractors.co.uk.

If you would like to make a donation to the trust, there is a very easy payment facility on the Charitable Trust Weblink above, where you can make a donation and leave a message, or if you prefer you can make an anonymous donation.

Here at O’Brien we have had some mo-mentous fundraising results for the trust. Movember has been a huge triumph with an epic £3,125 being raised by the team and this figure is still rising.

The Charitable Trust are over the moon with the success of the tache-growing-team, their fundraising efforts has meant that O’Brien have met their £15K target for 2018.

Peter O’Brien said: “With only 4 people in the Movember team, £3K + is an unbelievable total! It has been a fantastic success, simple, straightforward and great fun. Thanks very much to everyone involved and most importantly it will have just got us past the annual £15K target, which is brilliant.”

If you would like to continue to support or donate to O’Brien Charitable Trust, please follow the link here: https://trust.obriencontractors.co.uk/

On Saturday 13th October, 20 of O’Brien staff with friends and family, and a dog, undertook a 10 mile walk across the Cotswold’s hills.

Setting off for 8:30am the team headed up Brailes Hill, followed by Broom Hill and lastly tackling Yarn Hill, where after they took a well-deserved rest at the Bell Inn at Shennington.

O’Brien Charitable Trust were behind the event, which raised money for its nominated charities and proved to be an enjoyable day out for all.

Darren Wortley, O’Brien Buyer said: “It was a great day out with excellent comradery amongst the team, the Cotswold hills were a stunning background to whole event. We couldn’t have asked for better weather.”

If you would like to find out more about O’Brien Charitable Trust and how much they have raised so far, please visit: https://trust.obriencontractors.co.uk/ 

On Saturday 1^st September 2018 a team of 18 set off on the Wolf Run, a 10K run including 30 obstacles, made up of cargo nets, a lake swim and treading through tons of mud.  The team’s ages ranged from 20 to 60 years old, the course was by no means an easy task, impressively all contenders finished unscathed and elated at the thought of a well-earned rest.

The Wolf Run event is held on a regular basis throughout the year, in all weathers, and was held at Welsh Road Farm in Hunningham, Warwickshire.

O’Brien Charitable Trust once again used a fantastic event to raise money for its local charities.

If you would like help support O’Brien Charitable Trust, please click here to make a donation: https://trust.obriencontractors.co.uk/

O’Brien’s Charitable Trust Golf Day was a huge triumph raising thousands for charity.

The O’Brien Charity Golf Day took place on the 27^th July at Leamington Country Golf Club in Whitnash. O’Brien staff and suppliers all teed off for charity before enjoying a sit-down meal and bidding in the charity auction. There was an impressive range of auction prizes to be won, ranging from a 1966 World Cup signed shirt to Sir Bobby Charlton and Nobby Stiles signed prints. (see images below)

Peter O’Brien, Managing Director, said: “The day was a brilliant success, I’m so pleased with the amount the trust has raised for all its charities. Everybody had a fantastic time and the level of generosity from all who attended was heart-warming. I want to extend my thanks to all the staff who played a part in making the day a success.”

O’Brien Charitable Trust will continue to raise funds for its charities throughout 2018, if you would like to help or contribute in any way please contact, Kelly Davis at kellydavis@obriencontractors.co.uk or call 01926 423918.