British Gas, Taunton RFC & South West Childrens Hospice

 When British Gas was announced as the new main sponsor of Taunton RFC in a multi-year partnership, the word repeatedly heard was community. A household name, rather than becoming better known, the energy supplier’s principal aim was to be known for being better, for being caring, for being present in the community. As Christmas 2022 approached, an opportunity to demonstrate this arose…

Supporting the local community and supporting local causes has been part of the conversation between James Kew, Area Manager for British Gas in the South West and TRFC player Nick Mason who is also the club’s Commercial Coordinator. “It aligned well,” explains James, “as the club was looking to do something and we have volunteering hours allocated to our employees. We budget for them to take two days each year to volunteer for good causes and we support them in that.”

“We were so busy though as the cost-of-living crisis and the cold weather bit that we were in such demand, we couldn’t fulfil those volunteering commitments. We hadn’t used up the volunteering budget. So, we decided to make a monetary donation. The charity that kept coming up in conversation was Children’s Hospice South West.”

James was soon put in touch with Mary Gray, the Area Fundraiser for Children’s Hospice South West. Nick suggested making an event of it to bring some awareness of the cause, rather than simply handing over money and so the idea was hatched to have an auction during the pre-match lunch prior to Titans’ December game against Birmingham Moseley when over 250 diners were enjoying the magnificent carvery.

“We were nervous. Nick and I were completely in Mary’s hands,” laughs James, recalling the preparation for the auction. “We’d never done an event like this before. I got some of our biggest manufacturing partners– like Ariston – to come down for the lunch and the game. They put their hands in their pockets too. We were unsure how it would go though, but Mary’s a professional, she’s done it all before.” Nick Mason the commercial coordinator at Taunton RFC was excited to help with this day and mentioned “To be able to help a charity which does such valuable work when families are facing some of the hardest challenges was a no brainer. We were delighted to welcome them to a matchday where we could raise a few extra pounds to support them but at the same time raising awareness of the work they do was an honour.”

“Nothing as big as this, mind you,” chimes in Mary, her eyes brimming with excitement. A lot of local businesses offered up auction prizes and both the rugby club and British Gas engineers endeavoured to call in some favours from friends and connections to lay on a smorgasbord of special items and experiences, ranging from signed rugby balls to golf days and stays at Cornish hotels with cream teas thrown in.

The auction – overseen masterfully by TRFC’s Darren Alway –raised £1,400 which was augmented by the £10,000 donation from British Gas in lieu of their volunteer hours. Ariston, meanwhile, donated a boiler – so long as James could provide the engineers to fit it into the home of one of CHSW’s needy families. James then announced that figure was being doubled.

“I was absolutely blown away,” beams Mary. “James called on my last day of work before Christmas and it made my Christmas, it really did. It’s an incredible amount of money but the awareness, being able to take the microphone on the day of the auction and tell so many people what we do for children in this region with life-limiting conditions and their families, that’s priceless for us.”

South-West Children’s Hospice has three hospices across the South West. The local hospice to Taunton is Little Bridge House at Barnstaple where children with life-limiting conditions and their whole families are cared for. They provide a mixture of care, the majority of it being respite care where a child with a life-limiting condition would come with their family for a short break. Activities are provided for siblings, parents have the chance to unwind and the child receives care all in the context of the family holidaying together.

The hospice also offers emergency and end-of-life care as well as bereavement support. Costs total approximately £11million each year across the three hospices run by Children’s Hospice South West, so the funds and the awareness raised by the auction event will make a significant impact in to a significant fundraising target.

The whole event happened because of three organisations, TRFC, British Gas and CHSW working together to contribute venue, organisation, personnel, expertise, funds, prizes and an audience. “It was a great day but there’s no doubt,” claims James, “People dug a bit deeper in their pockets that day because Mary got up and said a bit about the work of CHSW.”

Mary adds, “There would have been people there who didn’t know about us. We do have a good name across the South West but a lot of people still wouldn’t know that their local children’s hospice is in Barnstaple. Actually, there was a dad there watching the rugby that day who spoke to me. His family had used our services when his little boy was born. That shows how we are here in Taunton and in this area, supporting local families.”

So, in the New Year, Mary returned to Veritas Park in Taunton for a photo with the full squad of Titans and James presenting her with an outsized cheque for £21,400.

“That was fun, with the big cheque and all the players. I was like, ‘Yeah! This is great,’” said Mary before elaborating on why the bigger picture was much more than being surrounded by lots of hunky Taunton Titans. “It makes such a massive impact to have a picture like that with everyone involved.” It certainly underlined the contribution of Taunton’s National League rugby club to this incredible charity.

“The money means so much,” explains Mary. It costs about £20 for every hour of care. This cheque provides an insane number of hours of care. Times are tough at the moment for everyone so the size of this cheque is all the more important. We can continue to provide care which is exactly what we want to do, to support more local families.”

Although most people associate the word hospice with end-of-life care, the abiding memory many families share of Little Bridge House in Barnstaple is of laughter and happy times because of the opportunity it gives them as families to share holiday time together, with the pressures of running a household and caring for their child borne temporarily by the staff of CHSW.

“Nobody ever wants to think that they’ll need to use a facility like Little Bridge House,” reflects James, “but at the same time knowing that it is there in case they do is just fantastic.” Mary adds that her role as Area Fundraiser is not just about raising money in the here-and-now but, because times are tough at present, creating awareness of the work of CHSW so that when things do ease off, the local community will be passionate about contributing. The three-way relationship between British Gas, Children’s Hospice South West and Taunton RFC is set to flourish with more events and initiatives in the pipeline. Watch this space. Nick Mason added “We loved playing a role in this fundraising and awareness event and we very much hope to be able to help again in 2023 and beyond. To finish I just want to say thank you to the Childrens Hospice South West for the incredible work they do”

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