The Premier Paper Group, the UK’s largest independent paper merchant, has announced that it has raised in excess of £11,000 for Breast Cancer Care, following its successful, ‘Think Pink this October with The Premier Paper Group’ campaign, which saw Premier embark on a whole host of wide range fundraising activities in recognition of the month of October being Breast Cancer Awareness Month. 

The various fund raising activities, which helped to raise this magnificent sum total, included the hosting of a Coffee Morning, a team from Premier embarking on the grueling endurance race known as - ‘The Winter Wolf Run’, the selling of Breast Cancer Care pin badges and a product promotion on the MultiCopy range.

Winter Wolf Run

The toughest of all Wolf Runs, the Winter Wolf Run was held on the 5^th and 6^th November at Stanford Hall in the heart of the Leicestershire countryside. The Wolf Run is approximately a 10k off-road run, featuring a series of man-made and natural obstacles throughout the course.

A team of 12 runners from Premier, of varying age and ability and known as the Spartans, were led by its Captain, Premier’s Brad Goldsmith, and included other Premier employees such as Hussein Ismail, Darren Bellman, Charlotte Goldsmith, Amy Kenney, Julia Goldsmith, Andy Maycock, Chris Lovell, Emma Hibbitt, Charlotte Lovell, Alison Broughton and Martin Broughton. 

After signing in and a quick warm up, the Spartans set off from the starting line at 10:30am on a very cold and crisp Saturday morning. It wasn’t long before the runners hit their first water crossing, where a few feet from the starting line sat an ice cold river. Perhaps colder still was the dreaded cramp inducing lake crossing on a stretch of river where the runners had to submerge themselves completely to navigate under floating partitions. 

Other obstacles on the day included energy sapping mud pits, high climbs and claustrophobic crawls – all of which were endured by the Spartans team whilst braving the plummeting temperatures and conditions on the day. Despite all the obstacles, and stark weather conditions, the Spartans did well and finished the course in just over two hours.

Commenting on the endurance feat, Spartans Team Captain, Premier Paper Group Marketing Executive, Brad Goldsmith, stated, “It was a fantastic, well-organised race with an amazing atmosphere. The conditions on the day just helped to make the whole experience.” 

Brad added, “The Lake was so cold it felt more like a burn than a freeze and the underwater section left your head feeling like it was being squeezed! The team did amazingly though, they worked hard, together and were resilient to the very end – we’re already planning our next one! On behalf of the team I would like to thank everyone who sponsored and supported us along the way.”

The Spartans have so far they have raised over £1,000 for the Breast Cancer Care charity as part of the ‘Think Pink’ campaign.

Coffee Morning

Another of Premier’s ‘Think Pink’ fundraisers was a Coffee Morning, which was held locally at the Premier Minworth Head Office facilities.

Run by Premier’s coffee connoisseur and expert barista, Luke MacGregor-Dignan, there was a choice of five coffees available on the day, which included two that were ground fresh from beans, together with a variety of teas.

There was also an array of delicious cakes and pastries, which had been made by Premier’s own fantastic bakers, Toni Huffen, Norma Rattigan and Heather Meakin, as well as friends and relatives of other Premier staff. 

In total the Coffee Morning managed to raise just over £150 to go towards the ‘Think Pink’ campaign total.

Badge Sales

A further fundraising activity involved Premier selling Breast Cancer Care pin badges for £1 each throughout the month of October.

The pin badges were available through all of the sales branches and from all of the Premier staff.

During the month, Premier staff managed to sell in total a tremendous 5,000 of the badges, whilst at the same time donating an extra £1 to Breast Cancer Care for every badge sold. This brought the total raised to over £10,000 raised from selling Breast Cancer Care badges.

Further amounts were raised from a product promotion on the MultiCopy range with £10 for every tone sold during October, given to Breast Cancer Care.

Premier also provided all of the graphics and display items for the spectacular Breast Cancer Care show that took place on November 2^nd at the Park Plaza Westminster hotel in London.

The whole ‘Think Pink for October’ campaign saw everyone at Premier get behind this worthwhile cause to help raise money for Breast Cancer Awareness.

Premier Paper Group Marketing Director, Dave Jones, said of the fund-raising campaign, “I am delighted that our efforts during breast cancer awareness month have resulted in Premier being able to provide £20,000 of donations and support to Breast Cancer Care. My sincere thanks go to all customers and staff who have enabled us to achieve this.” 

Throughout the year, Premier works in support of many local charities and good causes, providing either direct support or sponsorship where appropriate. As well as Breast Cancer Care, Premier also supports The Woodland Trust, The Stationers’ Foundation and In-Kind Direct, which is a charity founded by HRH The Prince of Wales to redistribute goods from suppliers to a network of trusted UK charities.

The Premier Paper Group is the UK’s leading independent paper merchant and through its business divisions and nationwide branch network, offers a great choice of products and services.

Premier Paper has 30,000 tonnes of paper held throughout its branch network, offering some 5,500 different product items, from many of the world’s leading paper manufacturers, including the UK market’s widest selection of media for digital printing.

The Premier Paper Group endeavours to be an integral and valuable part of its customers’ business providing first class services, sharing its extensive knowledge and information, offering advice and a choice of quality products.