Every year since 2017, we have supported the charity Send a Cow to help disadvantaged families in Africa. We have done this by encouraging our customers to get involved via a doorstep leaflet drop and have also provided latrines by ‘twinning’ our toilets and have donated to provide dairy cows for communities. 

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The Bath charity, which provides training, tools, seeds, and livestock to communities in seven African countries, enables families to produce their food so they can feed themselves and lift themselves out of poverty permanently. 

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In 2016, we raised over £13,000 for Islas Walking Dream.  This was to raise money to help fund an operation in America for a local 3-year-old girl, called Isla, who after being born 12 weeks early and suffering a bleed on her brain, had developed Cerebral Palsy. This meant she was unable to sit, crawl, walk or stand unaided and needed the operation to improve her quality of life.

Funds were raised through sponsorship of a team of employees who took on the Three Peaks Challenge, climbing the highest mountains in Scotland, England, and Wales (Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike, and Snowdon) within 24 hours.  They were supported by other members of our staff who drove the minibuses and provided refreshments and encouragement.  The team was fortunate to have clear skies at the top of each peak, despite walking through snow on Ben Nevis and the rain coming down as they climbed Snowdon.

Further funds were raised for Isla during the year by 5 members of staff being sponsored to lose weight, they aimed to lose 5 stone between them in 3 months, a goal which they managed to exceed.

During our 80th year, we set ourselves the challenge to support 80 different charities and were very pleased to achieve this and even exceed our target!  We supported local, national, and international charities either by giving financial donations, sponsoring events, or giving products for fundraising events.  Some examples of how we helped were by donating for a defibrillator in our local community, sponsoring the local Young Farmers polo shirts, giving to the Indonesia Tsunami Appeal, and providing milk for foodbanks and the ‘no child hungry’ campaign.  The Tuckshop gave £100 to 41 different charities during the year and we donated milk and cream to over 50 fundraising events.

In 2015 we raised over £2,500 for Well Child 

A team of our staff collected sponsorship to race in the Tewkesbury Half Marathon in May 2015.  At the same time, another team of staff handed out milk to those who had completed the race, and Dotty the cow made a popular appearance. 

We also raised money throughout the year at events we went to by selling milkshakes, strawberries, and cream and cream teas, which were a real hit!.

Well Child is a national charity that provides care and practical support for sick children, with serious health needs and their families.

At an awards ceremony for Family Businesses attended by Roger and other members of the Workman family in 2016, they heard about the work of Fields of Life.  The charity works with communities in East Africa to bring about positive change through the provision of clean water, quality education, health promotion, and other community-based projects.  Roger and the family knew they could do something to support this work and donated funds to provide a well.  This was drilled in Eastern Uganda in 2017 and in March 2018 Roger's daughter, Louise, joined a Fields of Life team and had the privilege of seeing the well that had been drilled and the community it has transformed.

The whole community came out to welcome the team with singing and dancing and now many people in the area live free from a disease such as cholera.  Giving the gift of water not only gave the community access to something we may take for granted, but it also brought opportunity.  Previously girls would spend hours each day walking to collect dirty water from a small source of water, preventing them from attending school and having an education, as well as putting them in danger of attack.  By not having to collect water from miles away these young girls are now able to go to school.  The company has since supported this charity with its COVID-19 Appeal in 2020 and has donated to provide a second well.

On September 19th, 2014, a team of 11 staff from Cotteswold Dairy embarked on a gruelling 210-mile bike ride covering all our depots, from Gaerwen (on Anglesey), via Conwy Valley, Shropshire, Tenbury Wells, and Cheltenham, finishing at the Tewkesbury head office site.

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The team raised over £15,000 to help fund accommodation fit for purpose for some of the college’s students in Pittville, Cheltenham. The National Star College is an incredible and inspiring place that transforms the lives of young people with complex disabilities, every minute of every day. Following this we were nominated for the Team Award at the Local Charity Awards, we were delighted to win and were presented with a further £1,000 for the college.

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