Virginia Hayward Ltd Raise £7,000 For Macmillan Cancer Support

Gift hamper company Virginia Hayward Ltd take on Macmillan challenge and smash their £1,000 target.

Dorset based Virginia Hayward Ltd, supplier of Christmas hampers and gifts to businesses such as John Lewis, Waitrose, Selfridges and Interflora, have spent a busy year raising funds and awareness for the Macmillan Cancer Support charity.

"Macmillan have been our nominated charity for several years now, so we were delighted when we were approached to be 1 of 100 businesses in Dorset who would aim to raise more than £1,000 this year to mark Macmillan's centenary" says Director Sam Hayward. "Every member of staff wanted to contribute in some way, so we set a company target of £5,000 and were absolutely thrilled to find that after a lot of hard work we had smashed both targets."

The team at Virginia Hayward have squeezed in several events in between preparing their range of hampers and gifts for this Christmas. These have included car boot sales, a sponsored swim, a half marathon, a quiz night and much more. The team's most ambitious venture saw a group of 10 staff take to the hills for a 28 mile walk from the Atlantic to the English Channel across Cornwall following the Saint's Way from Padstow to Fowey, which raised £3,500 alone.

Sam Hayward says, "Almost without exception, we can all point to some personal experience with cancer, whether that's through a friend or relative living with the disease, or even closer to home in some cases, so we all wanted to do our bit to contribute to this enormously valuable charity. To have exceeded our own expectations at the same time was a fantastic result and we're very proud to have been involved in Macmillan's centenary year."

Virginia Hayward have now launched their new 2011 range of Christmas hampers and gifts, which are available directly through the companies website and suit a wide range of different tastes.