A national waste management group has raised more than £14,000 for the British Heart Foundation (BHF) after a year-long charity partnership.

Over the last 12 months, staff from the GRG Waste UK group took on a series of challenges including a sponsored skydive and hiking 25 miles to complete the Yorkshire 3 Peaks.

Employers also participated in a Christmas jumper day, a funky hair day and inhouse raffles. The company also organised a James Bond themed gala ball which alone raised more than £8,000.

They had initially set a fundraising target of £10,000 for the charity partnership, however, their efforts exceeded expectations by raising a total of £14,638.

The company chose to support the BHF in memory of their colleague Brian Collis who died from a heart attack in 2016 at the age of 72. Brian worked at the Crewe-based company alongside his son Dave Collis and granddaughter Francine Collis.

Francine Collis, Marketing Manager at GRG Waste UK, said: “I’m incredibly proud of the efforts our colleagues and customers made in supporting this fundraising campaign.

“Many of us will know someone whose life has been impacted by heart disease. So, we’re delighted that we’ve been able to help the BHF continue their vital work preventing deaths from heart and circulatory diseases and the heartbreak that causes millions of families.”

In the UK there are around 100,000 hospital admissions each year are due to heart attacks - the equivalent of one 1 every 5 minutes. The BHF funds research into all heart and circulatory diseases, such as congenital heart disease, stroke and vascular dementia, and their risk factors such as diabetes and high blood pressure.

Will Ham, Fundraising Manager for the BHF, said: “I was so impressed by the commitment of the team at GRG Waste UK. The fact that they smashed their fundraising target just shows how generously they gave their time and effort to the charity.

“We will use the money that’s been raised to further the BHF’s lifesaving work. For more than 60 years, our research has turned ideas that once seemed like 'science fiction' into treatments and cures that save lives every day. But millions of people are still waiting for the next breakthrough.

“It is only with the support of the public that we can keep our research going and discover the treatments and cures of the future.”

For more information contact Will Slater in the BHF Media Team on 07818 510 100 or slaterw@bhf.org.uk

About the British Heart Foundation

With donations from the public, the BHF funds ground breaking research that will get us closer than ever to a world free from the fear of heart and circulatory diseases. A world where broken hearts are mended, where millions more people survive a heart attack, where the number of people dying from or disabled by a stroke is slashed in half. A world where people affected by heart and circulatory diseases get the support they need. And a world of cures and treatments we can’t even imagine today.