“Each year the IDS staff select a charity to have as our “Charity of the Year”, this year (2012/13) we have chosen Children’s Hospice SOUTH WEST (Registered Charity No. 1003314). Lots of different fundraising events will be carried out and our charity committee will lead and motivate the fundraising efforts throughout the year.
Children’s Hospice SOUTH WEST (CHSW) was founded in 1991 by Eddie and Jill Farwell after they experienced for themselves the urgent need for hospice care for children in the South West. 
CHSW help to build precious memories for families whose children are living with life-limiting conditions. It costs in excess of £8 million each year to run the charity’s three hospices, Little Bridge House in North Devon, Charlton Farm in North Somerset and Little Harbour in Mid Cornwall.
They rely on the generosity and efforts of people like you to help them to deliver their promise to ‘make the most of short and precious lives across the South West’. The care and support CHSW give extends to the whole family, into bereavement and beyond for as long as each family needs them. With over 1,000 life-limited children across the South West, CHSW’s support for families is absolutely vital.
Please visit www.chsw.org.uk for more information.
If you would like to contribute to our charity fund or donate the proceeds of your show, recital or event, please contact us on
+44 (0)1626 36 32 32. If you would like to make a donation when placing your order please ask to add product code DON or add this product when ordering online.
Fundraising aside, we also want to create awareness of the hard work and support that CHSW give to those in need. Anything and everything you can do will make a difference, so please help us raise funds in any way you can.
See below for our fundraising success so far!
April 2013 | Total raised so far is £3,733.82
April has been a quieter month for fundraising, however donations are still filtering in from customers kindly donating as they order, together with our vending machine donations - with 5p from each purchase going to CHSW. April also saw IDS staff members volunteer their cooking skills for our savoury Bake Day held earlier in the month which raised £27.71.
Our Grand National Sweep Stake also raised £29, staff paid £2 a go to pick a horses name at random. Half the proceeds raised went to the charity of the year, Amy Rich had the winning horse this year... well done Amy!
The committee have been preparing for CHSW’s official week of fundraising, Smile Week (29th April - 3rd May) and have been busy putting together a week of events for all staff to take part in - raising a smile and money for CHSW! Watch this space for photos and updates on all the fun…
March 2013 | Total raised so far is £3,639.91
A slightly quieter month of March for fundraising, but still the donations are filtering in from customers kindly donating as they order, together with our recycling of cardboard.
All at IDS took part in an Easter Bonnet Egg-travaganza! Where-by everyone was tasked with making a bonnet/ headwear to represent Easter, here are some pictures of the IDS Team and their creations - what a talented bunch we are!...
It was decided that 3 prizes where just not enough for the effort make, so the prizes were upped and 7 staff were presented with a prize! March fundraising has added a further £259 towards the total!
February 2013 | Total raised so far is £3,361.38
The fundraising team have been busy this month. We kicked off with a Valentine’s Day extravaganza with a massive Tombola, tasty cakes and staff either wearing masks or dressing to show what they loved, which for the most part for the men was their favourite football team! One however bucked the trend and got everyone guessing what he was wearing that he loved, promising to donate £5 if anyone guessed it. Embracing the true sense of St Valentine’s Day, it was his wedding ring and his £5 was quickly added to the total of £145.41.
In between times books, donations and the vending machine raised £25.86 and the month was concluded with a Girlie Night at our CEO’s home where Anne hosted a Cake Pops demonstration, which was very hands on with the guests having varied degrees of success. There was also a raffle, a handbag & shoe swap and some beautiful jewellery for sale. It was lovely to see Naomi Dymond, CHSW Corporate Partnerships Fundraiser, there with her Mum, and the whole evening raised £482.50. This made a grand total of £653.77 for February, bringing the total amount raised so far to £3,361.38
January 2013 | Total raised so far is £2,706.21
A lot of time has been spent during January preparing and scheduling events for the forthcoming months, whilst this was all taking place donations have still been filtering through! We have had a fantastic response from our customers adding donations to their orders when speaking with our Customer Services Team, thank you to those that have donated when placing your order...a staggering £623.13 has been donated! There are several events taking place in February so please come back to check our progress and view the pictures!
December 2012 | Total raised so far is £2,060.48
Every year Newton Abbot hold a Victorian Evening Market where you can hire a stall and sell goods, hold a draw etc. This year the Charity Committee thought this would be a brilliant idea, so that’s what we did! The willing volunteers all dressed in their best Victorian outfits and we stocked the stall with dance costumes, acccessories, home baked goods and we held a Tombola for a selection of prizes, which was a great success!. Altogether the team raised a wonderful £168.50 during the evening.
Meanwhile back at IDS, we held a raffle and an auction. Charity Committee members & our Management Team put together a luxury Christmas hamper to be raffled and this was won by Vikki in our Warehouse Team.
We also held a closed
auction for a hand painted Whittards Tea Set which had been kindly donated, the starting bid was £7.00 and the winning bid of £11.50 was made by Amy our Personalised Printing Co-ordinator.
There was also a Christmas Jumper Day where staff were charged 50p to wear a Christmas jumper or seasonal themed attire and £1.00 for normal dress. Lots of people took part in the Christmas theme, and the Customer Services Team created their own giant jumper to fit them all in! Altogether we raised £28.50 for dress-up/ dress-down.
The total amount raised for December was £512.12, well done & thank you to all that took part and donated during the month.
November 2012 | Total raised so far is £1,578.27
Funding was added to this month with donations from our cardboard recycling, a local company collects our cardboard and we receive a charity donation - helping us stay green! We also had money raised through the IDS vending machine, with 5p from each purchase going to CHSW, this is a great reason to keep eating chocolate!
Although November was a quieter month on the fundraising front at IDS, the committee have been busy spending time behind the scenes working on some forthcoming events which will take place in December so watch this space for an update and pictures.
October 2012 | Total raised so far is £1,553.27
5 members of IDS staff took part in a 6 mile moonlight memory walk around Exeter, Devon. The walk started at 11pm and finished at 1.30am, it was pouring with rain but high spirits were kept throughout. The team were greeted with a very welcome hot cup of tea at the finish line!
This month also saw IDS raising money by having a spookily fun Halloween day, which of course in true IDS style involved fancy dress and home baked horrors, fun was had by all!
¬ Here’s the spooktacular looking team
September 2012 | Total raised so far is £1,127.83
The first month of our new charity fundraising has begun and the usual gusto and enthusiasm has continued with this year’s new charity. An amazing figure has been raised already. During September our efforts included:
Grace (Credit Controller) took part in a local sky dive held in Perranporth, Cornwall. Falling a magnificent 10,000 feet, she raised a staggering £1,000! Well done from all at IDS....here's Grace in action.
We also held a raffle for 2 luxury boxes of chocolates and raised £10.60. A collection box for refreshment donations at our International Dance Teachers Conference in London and a raffle for tickets to the Newton Abbot Town Ball also added a further £95.68. A great start to the year!
Please take a look at our past efforts:
View our recap of the fundraising success for ShelterBox (IDS Charity Of The Year 2010-2012).