Chesterton House Wears It Pink🎗!
On Friday 19th October, Chesterton House had a dress-down Friday. I know, boring right? Who cares what clothes your Financial Planners, Paraplanners, Administrators, Accountants, Solicitors etc. wear to work? Well, what if I told you everyone was dressed in the most shocking, barbie-like shades of pink? That's right, Chesterton House spent that Friday hosting a Wear It Pink Day for the charity Breast Cancer Now. John Bolton takes up the story...
Before the day had even started, it was hilarious to see everyone's faces while walking across Rectory Place to go to either No. 2, No. 3 or No. 29. We had everything from blushing (cheeks as pink as the colour of their jumpers), grimaces (it was early in the morning and some hadn't had a coffee yet) and best of all some big cheesy grins (namely from our best-dressed award winners, which we'll get onto later). All were ready to begin their day as normal, except it was to be an entirely abnormal day!
Chesterton House's Social Committee organised a day full of fun activities for our staff all themed around the colour pink, such as a Big Pink Quiz and a Pink Raffle, and we also made pink ribbons that staff could attach to their already pink selves, as demonstrated by Jordan in the above photo!
Staff were able to go to the reception desk in our Woolley Beardsley's and Bosworth building to purchase their entry for various prizes. Then it was time for people to knuckle down with their usual day-to-day responsibilities... until 12pm when the Big Pink Quiz began!
The Big Pink Quiz
Anyone that paid the £2 entry (or the £5 Mega Deal) was sent an interactive quiz by email at 12pm, created partially by Breast Cancer Now and partially by The Social Committee. Featuring a total of 40 questions, our staff had just 6 minutes to blitz their way through the quiz (to stop any potential search-engine use). The quiz was split into 8 rounds - "Match the Colour with the Name", "Pink Food and Drink", "General Pink Knowledge", "Name the Celebrity", "TV and Film", "Sport", "Music" and "Name the Flower".
We also had a prize for the Big Pink Quiz Champion that scored the highest in the fastest time - the newly made Big Pink Quiz Trophy (pictured right), along with a £10 Amazon Gift Voucher, but most importantly the pride of knowing that you are the brainiest person in the company!
Why not have a go at the quiz yourself?
It's available at http://www.quiz-maker.com/QUYTSOG, and you can see how you fare against Chesterton House's finest quiz brains! Our highest scorer was 25/40 - it's a pretty tough quiz!
Pink Raffle
Throughout the working week before our Wear It Pink Day on the Friday, a box in Woolley Beardsleys and Bosworth Reception had slowly been filling up with pink prizes for our raffle. Our staff once again showed their generosity by donating an array of fantastic prizes, including a bottle of pink gin, rosé wine and fizz, handmade knitting, pink chocolates and more (shown to the right)!
We did the draw at 3pm and many of us went home with some unexpected and welcome gifts for the day. We also announced the winner of The Big Pink Quiz, which was Chesterton House Accounting Service's Reanne Austin!
Fundraising, Our Staff and Our Clients
Over the course of the day we collected a grand total of £180.35, which Chesterton House generously agreed to match, therefore giving us a total of £360.70. The way in which our staff and clients got involved with Wear It Pink Day is truly commendable – whether it was staff members furiously racking their brains for the amount of points a pink ball is worth in snooker, or clients putting money into the boxes on reception when they came to see us.
Now to announce the winners of our Best Dressed awards, which were as follows:
Best Dressed Female Award - Jane Porter
Best Dressed Male Award - Ross Mackie
Here's a small slideshow with some photos of us on the day, enjoy!
Just because Wear It Pink Day had to end (we can't all go around wearing pink jumpers forever, we'll be the laughing stocks of Loughborough), unfortunately breast cancer has not ended... yet. Breast Cancer Now takes donations at https://breastcancernow.org/get-involved/donate if you would like to get involved. Be sure to look out in our newsletters for the next charity event we host!
There was a serious side to the fun activities as we raised both money and awareness of breast cancer and Breast Cancer Now, the charity we supported.
About breast cancer:
Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women in the UK.
Over 55,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer each year in the UK, including around 4,700 in Scotland.
Each year, around 7,400 additional women are diagnosed with an earlier, non-invasive form of breast cancer. These are confined to a specific area of the breast (usually milk ducts) but may later develop the ability to spread.
One in eight women in the UK will develop breast cancer at some point in their lifetime.
Around 350 men are diagnosed with breast cancer every year in the UK, including around 30 in Scotland.
Breast Cancer Now is researching:
Breast Cancer Now funds almost £25 million worth of cutting-edge research, supporting nearly 380 of the brightest scientists make the discoveries they need to stop women dying from breast cancer. But they need to invest at least £300 million over the next 10 years to make this a reality.
Breast Cancer Now is campaigning for change:
Right now, too many life-saving, life-extending drugs simply aren’t getting to patients. Breast Cancer Now works with politicians, the NHS and other decision makers to unlock new and off-patent drugs, so women with breast cancer can get the treatments they so desperately need.
Breast Cancer Now is raising awareness:
Through their public health campaigns, Breast Cancer Now are helping thousands of women become breast aware by making sure they know what changes and risk factors to look out for. The earlier breast cancer is detected, the greater the chance of surviving it.
Breast Cancer Now is working together:
Breast Cancer Now are bringing together the brightest minds, the best fundraisers and the most determined campaigners, partners and Patient Advocates. They are working with people who’ve been touched by the disease, so that, together – they can stop it.
Sources: https://breastcancernow.org/about-breast-cancer/want-to-know-about-breast-cancer/breast-cancer-facts