Macmillan Support receives large donation from Greene King Pubs

The fundraising was managed by pub teams brilliantly. The money raised can be used to support the 96 Macmillan professionals currently funded by the charity across the region such as specialist dietitians, therapists and the iconic Macmillan nurse. 

Greene King, the UK’s leading pub company and brewer, has now raised a staggering £14million for Macmillan over its 10-year charity partnership.

The tenth year marked a record breaking £3 million annual total for the charity. This equates to £342 raised every hour in 2022, which is enough to fund a Macmillan nurse for a whole day.

There was an outstanding effort from kind-hearted regulars and team members at Greene King’s Flaming Grill pub, the Waterside Inn in Goodrington, Paignton, Devon where a phenomenal £11,255 was raised over the year.

The fundraising also extended to the popular Dartmouth Road pub involving the pub team, regulars and the wider community.

Highlights included an amazing firewalk, a clairvoyant night and fun piglet racing. The pub ensured there were regular donations coming in by asking customers to add ‘a pound to their round’ at the till and creating a book swap where customers could donate to Macmillan in exchange for a book.

Andre and Jules Dus are joint general managers of the Waterside Inn. Jules said: “We are just so proud of everyone’s efforts here at the pub. We were determined to pull out all the stops and set our targets high. And we did it! This was a great team effort.

The firewalk really was one of our most successful events attracting lots of interest and there was plenty of laughter during the enjoyable piglet racing! The key is to have regular money coming in with raffles and hampers and donations then have some bigger events in the year to draw more people in.

“Our thanks go out to everyone who works here and all our customers. Our team leader, Justine Wilson had an amazing year raising £6,000. What a year it has been."

"We have a wall chart showing what we have raised so everyone can see the progress we are making. We have had fun in our fundraising and it’s been great to do our bit. Let’s see what we can do in 2023. There’s a sponsored skydive planned in June for me already! We would like to hit the £15,000 target.”

Alison Ramsay, senior social impact manager at Greene King, said: “This is proof that charity really is at the heart of all our pubs. What better way is there to celebrate our 10-year partnership with Macmillan than by having a record-breaking 12-months of fundraising. Our teams and customers are simply brilliant to have raised over £3million in 2022. Sadly, we all know someone living with cancer but we know every single pound raised in our pubs helps.”

Local Macmillan Relationship Fundraising Manager, Atalia O’Leary, said: “What a fantastic effort. Well done to the Greene King team members and customers at the Waterside Inn for their amazing fundraising. £11,255 is such a brilliant total.

“Right now, Macmillan is needed now more than ever, and we want to be there for people living with cancer in our communities."

“We’re immensely grateful to Greene King for their continued and generous support of Macmillan and the millions of pounds that the partnership has raised over the years.”