Keyline partnership with Prostate Cancer UK reaches £1.5million milestone

Specialist civils distributor Keyline is celebrating the achievement of a major fundraising milestone with its charity partner Prostate Cancer UK, having raised £1 million to fight the disease via a wide range of events and participation from thousands of staff.

The five-year partnership between Prostate Cancer UK and Keyline which began in 2010 has seen a host of events both big and small, ranging from donations in branches, to a yearly charity rally across Europe. Funds raised go towards supporting men by providing vital information and finding answers by funding research into causes and treatments.

Keyline has reaffirmed its commitment to fundraising for the charity, by signing up to another five year partnership with Prostate Cancer UK, and several initiatives are already underway for 2015.

In addition to raising money for this important cause, the charity partnership’s key aim is to raise awareness of prostate cancer amongst staff and customers, particularly as the majority of them are men. As well as its own staff and suppliers, Keyline has engaged the 30,000 contractors and local tradesmen who are customers of the Keyline network throughout the UK, informing them on the charity, and fundraising initiatives.
Keyline has organised a fun charity car rally every year for the past five years, with competitors in fancy dress raising approximately half of the million pound total. Keyline also supports Movember and Prostate Cancer UK’s Men United campaign, which aims to give men all over the country a reason to see their friends more, get together with their mates and do something to help beat prostate cancer. Local branch fundraising activities have ranged from staff running the London Marathon, climbing mountains, to taking part in a sponsored motorcycle ride around Scotland, the Tour de Branch cycle ride in the north east, football tournaments, regional balls, golf days, sponsored cycle rides, to name a few. Branches have run tuck shops as well as collection tins, and there have been several sponsored walks. Supplier initiatives have included donations from product sales, for example 4Trade raising £5,000 by making a donation for every product sold for a month in 2012.
Mark Bishop, Director of Fundraising at Prostate Cancer UK comments: “To mark this milestone in our partnership with the news that we have exceeded our million pound target is fantastic. This is testament to the dedication and passion of everyone who has embraced this partnership at Keyline.”
“We've been proud to call Keyline one of our corporate partners, and not only that but our good friends too. We look forward to the next five years working together in the fight against prostate cancer.”
Stephen Riggens, Chair of the Charity Committee at Keyline said: “I would like to thank all of our staff, customers, suppliers who have put in so much effort and contributed to this total. I am very proud that we have exceeded our expectations and raised a massive amount of money which will go towards providing vital information and research. However this is only the beginning, and we look forward to working with our friends at Prostate Cancer UK over the coming months and years.”

The highlights of Keyline’s first five years working in partnership with Prostate Cancer UK:
Year 1 - set target of raising £25,000 in donations – in the end, including first charity rally, actual total raised £147,000
Year 2 - award-winning Movember campaign
Year 3 - £500,000 record fund raising
Year 4 - target of £100,000, but rally pushed total to £145,000
Year 5 – Keyline supports Men Utd campaign and approaches £1m total

Keyline is the UK’s leading specialist supplier of civils and drainage, rail, and heavy building materials.

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