Our year of Fundraising
As you may be aware, we proudly support Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance (HIOWAA), a fantastic organisation which brings immediate, lifesaving care to patients when they need it most. They are in operation 365 days a year, day and night, providing prompt response to road traffic collisions, sporting incidents and other emergencies across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.
Across the Red Mist family of pubs, we actively raise funds for Rainbow Trust Children’s Charity, Cherry Trees, Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice Care, Challengers and Help for Heroes. We feel that a pub should be part of the fabric of the local area, and therefore have a responsibility to make a meaningful contribution to the community in which we serve!
Each year we commit to raising funds for these charities through a variety of initiatives including a monthly networking event here at The Royal Exchange, and at two of our sister pubs; The Cock Inn and The Wheatsheaf. These events are free to attend but with a suggested donation on arrival which is given to the pub’s nominated charity.
When we decided to support HIOWAA in mid-2016, we committed to raising a total of £10,000 over the next three years for this fantastic cause, but we need your help…
In addition to networking events, we donate 20p from every pint of Red Mist Ale enjoyed by our lovely customers and challenge ourselves to complete annual sports fundraising events each year. In the past, these have included the Red Mist Ramble, a 26 mile walk taking to the footpaths of the surrey Hills, starting from The Queens Head in East Clandon all the way to The Wheatsheaf for a celebratory pint (and sleep). The 40 members of staff, suppliers and charity partners who participated, raised a whopping £7,000 for Phyllis Tuckwell and Disability Challengers.
We raised a grand total of just under £25,000 across the Red Mist family in 2016, a 28% increase on 2015 that couldn’t have been achieved without the generosity of you, our brilliant customers! We intend to surpass this figure in 2017 and Mark Robson, our MD has laid down the gauntlet and set the Three Peaks Challenge as this year’s fundraising challenge!
‘’We we’re blown away by people’s generosity. These results should act as a reminder that pubs are very much part of the fabric of our community. The donations we can help to raise means everything to the charities that we support. That is priceless and for that reason we will be raising our game again and hope to thrash this year’s record’’ – Mark Robson
This year marks the 10th anniversary of HIOWAA and we are thrilled to support such a fantastic cause. We can look forward to their celebratory party on the 1st July and will let you know more about that in the upcoming months.