Curo News

Curo colleagues take the plunge for charity

Mon, 11 Dec 2023 12:56:44 Z

A group of Curo employees raised more than £1,000 for St Peter’s Hospice by taking part in a cold water swim.

Michelle Sage, Mason Sage, Caz Gray, Karen Sheppard, Carl McMurtry, Tracy Benson and Kai Nickells braved the icy waters of Portishead outdoor swimming pool on Saturday, 2 December at the St Peter’s Hospice cold water dip. With outside temperatures barely nudging above zero all day the group watched on with an impending sense of dread as other groups completed their swims – with everyone limited to just 15 minutes in the water because of the cold weather.

Michelle said: “It was -1°C as we were getting undressed to get into the freezing pool. None of us were looking forward to it – but it was all for charity, and that’s what kept us going. In the end, we all smashed it and I felt amazing afterwards.

“We are overjoyed to have raised £1,092 for the charity.”

St Peter’s Hospice is Curo’s 2023 charity of the year. The charity was chosen as a thank you for the care and support it provided for a much-loved and respected colleague – Mike Purnell – who lost his battle with bowel cancer in January.

Michelle said: “Mike wasn’t only a colleague of mine, but a dear friend as well. St Peter’s Hospice looked after Mike, and were a massive support to him and his family.”

Clemi Williams, Corporate Partnerships Officer at St Peter’s Hospice, said: “I was so impressed with the Curo team! They did so well, and had the best costumes too!”

St Mary's School get £1,200 from community funding pot

Thu, 10 Mar 2022 10:49:22 Z

Pupils from St Mary's Primary School in Writhlington will receive new picnic benches thanks to a donation from a joint Curo and Travis Perkins Managed Services community funding pot.

In total, £1,200 was given to the school from the fund, which is available for local community projects and ideas.

As part of their English curriculum, the school's current Year 5 pupils put their ‘persuasive letter writing’ skills to the test and wrote to Curo asking for help purchasing the new equipment.

Curo Resident Engagement Co-ordinator, Michelle Sage said:

'It was an absolute pleasure to be able to help the school. These new benches for their outside spaces will let them learn outside and enjoy the summer even more.'

Year 4 teacher, Mrs. Dobson said:

'We are extremely grateful for this donation and look forward to the arrival of some new outdoor seating, just in time for the children to enjoy the warm weather.'

Curo raises almost £12,000 for Bath children’s charity Time is Precious

Wed, 02 Feb 2022 11:30:22 Z

Curo colleagues organised fund-raising activities to raise money for the charity, including sponsored hikes, naming Curo vans, quizzes, a cycle challenge and a charity raffle with prizes donated from 66 local and national businesses.

The family run, Bath and North East Somerset-based charity fundraise to equip children’s hospital wards with stress relieving equipment to make the stay more relaxing for children receiving treatment and their visiting family.

Curo Chief Executive Victor da Cunha, whose half marathon run contributed £1,800 to the fundraising total, said:

“It’s been wonderful working with Time is Precious and we’ve loved raising money for such a great cause.

“Some of our colleagues have done some truly amazing and inspiring things to raise money and awareness for such a fantastic local charity.”

Time is Precious Director Nicky Halford said:

“We would like to thank Curo from the bottom of our hearts for choosing Time is Precious as their charity of the year for two years.

“The last two years have been a struggle for us all, and the support has meant so much. Raising such a huge amount is totally fantastic: it has gone such a long way.

“The money has been used to help refurbish the Royal United Hospital’s Children’s Ward garden, as well as providing Christmas presents and life-enhancing items to children on the ward.”

The remaining money will be spent on refurbishing the hospital’s Children’s Ward to make it a more child-friendly place to visit.

We're excited to announce our new Charity of the Year for 2020

Wed, 26 Feb 2020 13:53:05 Z

Every year Curo colleagues nominate and vote for a local charity they would like to support. This year colleagues have chosen to support Time is Precious, a local South West charity whose aim is to help create a more comfortable and relaxed atmosphere for children and their families in hospital or at home.

The charity works alongside specialists to purchase equipment and refurbish areas to support not just those children who, because of illness or disability, find themselves in hospital for treatment but also their families who want to be with them because time is just that precious.

Charity founder Nicky Halford from Time is Precious, said: “Time Is Precious are absolutely thrilled and honoured to be the chosen charity for Curo. We are totally voluntary run and therefore every penny goes towards improving the lives of seriously ill and disabled children, in hospital and at home. We look forward to meeting you all and working with you. Together we can make a real difference.”

Curo Communications & Brand Manager Rachael Allen said: “We’re very excited to be supporting Time is Precious through our fundraising this year. Colleagues are busy planning lots of fundraising activities including bakes sales, taking part in the Half Iron Man, writing competitions, raffles, quizzes and plenty of dress-downs and dress-up days! Curo’s fabulous young-at-heart residents who attend our Livewell Hubs have also pledged to support Time is Precious through regular coffee mornings and raffles.”

Pictured, L-R: Curo colleagues: Nathan Anscombe, Sara Gosman and Will Burns are busy training to take part in the Half Iron Man, happening in June, raising money for Time is Precious.

For more information about our charity of the year fundraising appeal click here.

Curo’s charity partnership raises over £35K for the Forever Friends Appeal

Tue, 04 Feb 2020 16:54:04 Z

Thanks to the hard work and commitment of Curo colleagues, over £35,000 has been raised for the Royal United Hospitals Bath charity, The Forever Friends Appeal.

The partnership between Curo and the Appeal has grown remarkably over the past two years with Curo colleagues working tirelessly to raise as much as possible to help transform patient care at the RUH. In 2018 Curo raised over £13,000 for the RUH Cancer Care Campaign and last year we raised even more – £22,161 – for the Children’s Ward.

Rachael Allen, Communications, Brand and PR manager, Curo said: “Every year Curo colleagues vote for who to support through fundraising as our Charity of the Year. We were delighted to support The Forever Friends Appeal as we wanted to give something back to the RUH, its staff and patients in gratitude for the care given to our colleagues, loved ones and wider community.

“We’ve seen our colleagues take on some tough challenges from running in the Bath Half and other marathons to cycling the length of the country. We’ve also got together collectively and raised money by organising fun activities such as bake sales, growing sunflowers, naming our fleet of repair vans and taking part in the charity’s Walk of Life event and their Make it Grow Corporate Challenge.”

Paul Book, a Curo colleague who got involved and helped fundraise for the charity, said: “My daughter Amelia was admitted to the Children’s Ward in 2018 as she wasn’t feeling well and we received the news that she had acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.

"She started her treatment in the Bristol Royal Hospital for Children and now most of her treatment is carried out at the RUH and thankfully she is doing well and is in remission.

“Amelia loves the doctors and nurses and they are helping to make the journey better for her and us until she finishes the treatment in April 2021. We can’t thank her consultants Polly and Jagadeesh enough for what they do; that’s why I nominated the Children’s Ward so I could fundraise and give something back to thank them for all of their hard work.”

To recognise and thank staff for their hard work and commitment, The Forever Friends Appeal has welcomed Curo as Senior Corporate Partners of the charity.

Jo Common, Corporate Officer, The Forever Friends Appeal said: “It’s thanks to generous supporters like Curo that our charity can help further improve facilities, services and fund specialist medical equipment to help make real difference to patients and their families being treated and cared for at the RUH.”

Find out more about our Charity of the year appeals.

Curo fundraising tops £25,000 in two years for Bath hospital

Fri, 15 Nov 2019 14:44:03 Z

Curo colleagues have smashed their own fund-raising record, having raised £17,000 so far this year for the Bath Royal United Hospital’s Forever Friends Appeal.

Every year Curo colleagues nominate and vote for a local charity they would like to support. For the second year running we've chosen to support the Royal United Hospital, Bath – this year raising money for the hospital’s Children’s Ward.

Corporate Officer for the Forever Friends Appeal, Jo Common, said: “We were thrilled to be chosen as Curo’s charity of the year again in 2019, following their incredibly successful year of fundraising for us in 2018. Despite still having a few months of fundraising left, they have already brought their total raised across two years to over £25k. This just shows what tremendous commitment the team at Curo have to supporting the hospital.

“The money they have raised has gone towards the new Dyson Cancer Centre, as well as the Children’s Ward. We are so pleased to be able to welcome Curo on board as one of our wonderful Senior Corporate Partners, and would like to thank each and every member of the team at Curo for their support in helping care for our patients here at the RUH.”

Curo Communications & Brand Manager Rachael Allen said: “We were thrilled to find out we’ve been awarded Senior Corporate Partner status by the Forever Friends Appeal for raising more than £25,000 over the past two years for hospital.

“We’ve taken part in lots of fundraising activities including the Forever Friends Walk of Life, bake sales, raffles, quizzes, dress-downs and dress-ups, half-marathons and, most recently, the RUH’s ‘Grow £20’ challenge.”

Find out more about Curo’s charity of the year fundraising appeals here.

If you'd like to support our appeal, visit our Just Giving page here.

Pictured, L-R: Curo’s Becky Davies, Victor da Cunha and Rachael Allen are presented with their fundraising plaques by RUH Chair Alison Ryan. Photo courtesy of David McGirr

Curo’s housebuilding team wear it pink for Breast Cancer Now

Fri, 18 Oct 2019 14:40:32 Z

Curo’s housebuilding team have joined the ‘Wear it Pink’ campaign on Friday 18 October, to support Breast Cancer Now’s annual fundraising event.

Wear it Pink happens every year in October, the Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and is one of the biggest fundraising events in the UK aimed at facilitating continued vital research into the disease.

Curo staff have today sported their best pink outfits, with colleagues working on site swapping their usual green high visibility jackets for pink ones, raising £352 for the cause.

Curo Sales Director, Lisa Howells, says: “Curo colleagues take part in many charity fundraising events throughout the year for causes that are close to our hearts. It’s great to see that everyone has made an effort on ‘Wear it Pink’ day and joined the national campaign to help raise money for further life-saving breast cancer research.

“We’ve all had fun choosing our outfits for today, baking pink treats and, most importantly, donating. Colleagues looked fabulous in pink both in the office and on our construction sites and we’re already looking forward to making next year’s event even bigger and better.”

To mark the occasion, Curo have also installed planters with pink cyclamens at Mulberry Park, their 700 homes development in South Bath.

Since launching in 2002, Breast Cancer Now’s Wear it Pink day has raised more than £33 million to fund research and provide emotional and practical support to people affected by breast cancer. If you’d like to support this fantastic cause, donate directly to Breast Cancer Now at www.justgiving.com/campaign/wearitpink2019.

Curo MD to cycle 1,000 miles for charity

Wed, 15 May 2019 16:36:39 Z

Gerraint Oakley, the Managing Director of Curo’s house-building business, is cycling roughly 1,000 miles from John O’Groats to Land’s End in a bid to raise £5,000 for the Royal United Hospital (RUH), Bath Children’s Ward – Curo’s chosen Charity of the Year for 2019.

The iconic ‘End-to-End’ journey will take nine days to complete. Gerraint will set off from John O’Groats on Friday 12 July and will arrive at his destination on Saturday 20 July. He will cycle on average over 100 miles a day and will be joined by a friend and a Curo colleague who will be driving a van for the whole journey to provide support.

Gerraint says: “This year we’re fundraising to help the RUH Bath Children’s Ward to provide additional services, facilities and equipment for the thousands of children they treat every year. I know this is a cause very close to many of our colleagues’ hearts and everyone is making an effort to get involved in fundraising, from bake sales to walking and running marathons and, of course, donating.”

To help Gerraint raise money for RUH Bath Children’s Ward, visit www.justgiving.com/fundraising/curo-cycle-ride.

Gerraint is calling on all housing associations up and down the country to join him on this challenge. He says: “Wouldn’t it be great if colleagues from housing associations across the country would join in to help raise money for the amazing charities they’re supporting!

“Aside from supporting some fantastic causes, it would also be an opportunity for us to increase awareness of our sector, connect with colleagues and have some fun along the way.”

Colleagues from the sector are welcome to join Gerraint on his journey across Britain either for the whole challenge, or any of the nine stages:

Friday 12 July
John O’Groats to Tain – 125.83 miles

Saturday 13 July
Tain to Ballachuish – 112.51 miles

Sunday 14 July
Ballachuish to West Kilbride – 121.47

Monday 15 July
West Kilbride to Gretna – 103.70 miles

Tuesday 16 July
Gretna to Ecclestone – 112.11 miles

Wednesday 17 July
Ecclestone to Ludlow – 114.93 miles

Thursday 18 July
Ludlow to Bath – 90.47 miles

Friday 19 July
Bath to Okehampton – 96.53 miles

Saturday 20 July
Oakhampton to Land’s End – 96.30 miles

If’ you’d like to take part in the ride across Britain, contact CuroHomesAdmin@curo-group.co.uk for more information.

About RUH – Bath Children’s Ward

Every year, tens of thousands of children receive care and treatment at the Royal United Hospital, Bath. Some go in for routine operations, others for therapy to help them cope with disabilities and other chronic illnesses. Charitable support helps make life better for these children, and their families.

£13,000 raised for Bath cancer care centre

Fri, 29 Mar 2019 08:00:00 Z

Curo has raised £13,672 for the new Dyson Cancer Centre that will be built at the Royal United Hospitals (RUH) Bath.

Every year, Curo colleagues choose a ‘Charity of the Year’ and the RUH’s charity, The Forever Friends Appeal was nominated. Rachael Allen, Communications, Brand and PR manager, Curo said: “Choosing The Forever Friends Appeal as our charity of the year was an easy decision for us as we wanted to give something back to the RUH, its staff and patients in gratitude for the care given to our colleagues, friends and family.

“We raised the money by organising all kinds of fundraising activities, including yoga classes, naming our vans, cake sales, a golf day, raffles, taking part in the charity’s Walk of Life event, plus many more.”

A Curo colleague who talks highly of the RUH and helped fundraise for the Dyson Cancer Centre is Stuart Dashwood, who works in their Lettings Team. Stuart, aged 50, from Bath, was re-diagnosed in December 2015 with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, a relapse from a diagnosis in 2009. He said: “I am eternally grateful for all the treatments, support, empathy and love extended to me over the last ten years – especially the last three years which have been the most challenging.

“From January 2016 I received six sessions of chemotherapy followed by 18 months of treatment taking me through to spring 2018. I now go to the RUH for checkups every three months and despite aches and pains there are no signs of recurrence of Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, which is fantastic news.

“I have experienced the most amazing and empathetic care and have nothing but praise for all the team who have looked after me. We are lucky to have the NHS. I have been offered lots of support throughout this journey from my amazing GP, the consultants in Oncology and Macmillan nurses.

“When Rachael Allen heard that I used to DJ, she asked me to do a special one-off gig at our annual Spotlight Award Ceremony in aid of raising awareness to the charity – naturally I waived my fee and the evening was a huge success. I also wrote a blog for my colleagues to read prior to the awards night to highlight the importance of The Forever Friends Appeal and that I am a real-life beneficiary of the RUH; put simply, without them I would not be here now, they saved my life.”

This year, Curo colleagues have voted to raise money for the RUH’s Children’s ward and their fundraising plans are already in the making.

“Jo Common, Corporate Officer from The Forever Friends Appeal says, 'It’s wonderful news to hear that we will be working with Curo again this year. Every year, tens of thousands of local children receive care and treatment at the Royal United Hospital. Some come in for routine operations, others for therapy to help them cope with disabilities and other chronic illnesses. Charitable support helps make life better for these children, and their families, by funding additional services, facilities and equipment. Thanks to generous supporters like Curo, The Forever Friends Appeal charity are able to fund important projects that make a very real difference to patients and their families.”

If you'd like to contribute to Curo's Charity of the Year campaign, click here.