A record return

In January 2016, we revealed that Big C would be our charity of the year and set our sights on raising a huge £25,000.

We are pleased to announce that we have exceeded our fundraising target by several thousand pounds, having held a variety of charity initiatives throughout the year.

With such an ambitious target, we set every employee the challenge of raising £100 each – and they certainly rose to the occasion. By December we had broken our target, having raised more than £30,000.

Efforts saw staff engage in a wide range of weird and wonderful events, including charity golf days, round-Norfolk bike rides, marathon runs, conker championships, cake sales, dress-down days and beard shaves. The group also worked with other organisations to maximise their efforts, not least with the Norfolk Province of Freemasons, which donated £1,625 after running a charity car park at the Group’s head office during Norwich City Football Club matches.

Read more: Big weekend raises thousands for charity

To round the year off, the Group made an additional donation of £10 for every one of our 300 members of staff, bringing the grand total to a huge £33,500, breaking the company’s target by more than £8,000.

Over the course of the year we learned more about Big C and its work, attending laboratory tours at its state-of-the-art research facilities at Norwich Research Park, so we could see how the funds are being used in the fight against cancer.

Says Executive Chairman Alan Boswell: “We couldn’t have raised such a large donation without the support of our staff, our clients, our partners and the wider community. Cancer touches the lives of every one of us, so we’re proud to have made such a large contribution to Big C’s work, supporting patients and their families, and funding research into the disease.”

Big C Director of Income and Communications, Clive Evans comments: “We’d like to say a big thank you to Alan Boswell Group staff and their supporters for raising such an astonishing amount of money. Cancer affects us all in different ways, but thanks to the kindness of local people we are able to make a difference right here in Norfolk and Waveney.”