Community Support
Here at Nash & Co we have always believed in doing whatever we can to help and support our local community, and this will always be an important part of the firm. But one thing we do like to do is get involved in the charities that we support. It’s not just a case of “here’s some sponsorship money”… it’s more “Here’s the money, now how else can we support you?”.
From running half marathons, and in 10k and 5k events, to cycling the equivalent of Plymouth to the South of France, walking in the Midnight Walk, organising bake sales and charity quizzes etc, supporting our community is something that our fantastic staff are happy to do, alongside the commitments from the firm itself.
Barnardo’s Young Carers
We’ve now worked with Barnardo’s Young Carers team, here in Plymouth, for a couple of years, and will be doing more with them in the future. The local Barnardo’s team do an incredible job of helping to support young carers (anyone under the age of 18 who helps to care for a family member), and the young carers that they support care for family members who have a disability, a long-term illness, or a problem with alcohol or drugs. Without this vital help, they would struggle or not be able to cope.
Young carers as a whole are often left to face a lot of the additional burden alone. The additional responsibilities of caring for others mean they are likely to often miss out on opportunities that other children have to play, learn and be young. Many young carers struggle educationally as they put their caring duties before their own education. Additional pressures that they face include money worries, having to clean, do the shopping, cook, manage medicines, household budgeting, looking after brothers and sisters. Not attending school so much and, without the social friends group that other children might have, they can become isolated, with no relief from the pressures at home, with 1 in 3 young carers saying that caring makes them feel stressed.
Because of financial pressures on their families, and even more so in today’s economic climate, young carers often go without Christmas presents, and even Easter Eggs too. So that’s where we have stepped in over recent years! We’re big believers that no child should wake up on Christmas morning without a present, so we try to make sure that everyone that Barnardo’s team look after, has a bag of presents, personally bought with them in mind.
Hugs Children’s Cancer Charity
Hugs is an incredible local charity here in Plymouth, who help families from the city who have a child with a rare childhood cancer. Whether that’s emotional support, making a memory or helping families with support, the charity support people through a really tough time.
In 2022, the staff decided to name Hugs as the beneficiary of our annual 24 hour charity bike ride. Here we have 2 or 3 stationary exercise bikes in our reception, and the staff take turns to cycle for an hour. Our objective is to raise as much money as possible, and to try and cycle as far as we can.
In 2023, we were able to cycle the equivalent distance of Plymouth to Toulouse in the South of France (1123 km).
Brain Tumour Research
Brain tumours are the biggest cancer killer of children and adults under 40 years of age. However, there is a huge push on medical research to find treatment to help those living with a brain tumour. Fortunately, Plymouth is the home to the internationally renowned Centre of Excellence for research into low grade brain tumours.
Throughout 2022, we supported Brain Tumour Research with a number of fundraising activities – donating nearly £750 to the research centre, all raised by the staff here at Nash & Co Solicitors.
Other than the promotional work we did on social media, we didn’t get any support promotionally from Brain Tumour Research for the fundraising that we did.
The Primrose Foundation
The Primrose Foundation are a well-established local breast care charity based at the Primrose Breast Care Centre in University Hospitals Plymouth. Their catchment areas include much of east Cornwall, much of west and south Devon, as well as the city of Plymouth.
In 2022, we donated over £1500 to the Primrose Foundation and we’ll be looking to do more of this in the future. The majority of the money came from donating the ticket money from our Employment team’s Mock Employment Tribunal event that they ran.
Trevi and the Women’s Refuge
We’ve always had great relationships with Trevi and the Women’s Refuge in Plymouth.
Trevi provides “safe and nurturing spaces for women in recover to heal, grow and thrive. They provide a lot of rehab opportunities to women who unusually can bring their children with them into rehab. They find that this helps significantly in the rehab of the women at the centre.
They run from 3 different centres, all around Plymouth.
Jasmine Mothers Recovery – the rehab work with mothers and their children
Sunflower Women’s Centre – helping women with services following trauma & abuse
Daffodil Family Centre – parenting assessment unit, providing residential assessments
The Women’s Refuge in Plymouth provide practical, non-judgemental support, advice and protection for all victims of domestic abuse.
Both charities do incredible work to support women in the area, and every year, they’re the focus of a lot of fund raising activities, Christmas present and Easter Egg purchases, and throughout the year, we’ll also donate women’s beauty and hygiene products and baby clothes.
