Business Diary: September 20

This isn’t because they’ve suddenly become homeless due to the global economic chaos.

Simon on the Streets will hold a sponsored sleep out on September 29 and hopes 300 people will participate to raise £45,000.

The charity provides street-based support for those in need. Simon on the Streets works across Leeds, Huddersfield and Bradford providing front-line emotional and practical support for those who need it.

Clive Sandle, the charity’s director, said: “The sponsored sleep provides people with the chance to experience the challenges the homeless face every night.

“It is also a great chance for business people to meet and make friends.”

The evening will include a tour of homeless sites around the city, instructions on how to build a shelter and support through the night.

Jonathan Hirst, director of Leeds ITogether, a Leeds-based IT business is taking part in the event.

He told Diary: “The sponsored sleep-out really appealed to me because it provides a very different way to support a local charity that does some great work. I am hoping to rein in my competitive spirit with the shelter building.”

More information is available at www.simononthestreets.co.uk.

Long service of broker who rose through ranks

In these days of job insecurity, Diary is heartened to hear that loyalty is still valued in Yorkshire.

A celebration dinner has been held at the Foundry Restaurant in Leeds by insurance industry executive Brian Denney to honour 40 years of service by Judith Fryer, a personal lines broker who is now based at the Leeds office of Henderson Insurance.

Mr Denney recalled how he had interviewed a 17-year-old Ms Fryer in September 1971 and recruited her as a receptionist and telephonist, on an initial salary of £11.50 a week, rising to £12 after one month’s probation.

Ms Fryer said: “I have a skewbald cob called Joshua and I’m up every day at 5.30am to see to him before I go in to work. It’s like having a mortgage!”

Way to spread a little happiness

THE Variety Club Children’s Charity is celebrating the 25th anniversary of its Yorkshire Business Awards this year.

Martin Shaw, a driving force behind the annual December luncheon, told Diary how he became involved.

The corporate lawyer had joined the Variety Club’s Yorkshire committee in the mid-1980s after a recommendation from a friend in the property industry.

The club had two principal activities: fundraising and then assessing and investing in specific projects, often with the help of social workers.

Mr Shaw recalls a project that particularly affected him.

He said: “It was a few years after I joined. The Variety Club in Yorkshire had organised a summer picnic at Lightwater Valley for about 50 schools for disabled and disadvantaged children from impoverished backgrounds.

“It was a lovely day. I sat down with a group of children with their picnic. I looked around at these children and could see the sheer joy in their eyes.

“Talking to them, I realised they had never seen green grass before. They had never seen a picnic. They were so happy.

“I just thought to myself ‘what an easy thing to do this is, even for a short time, to bring joy and happiness to these children’.

“That one thing really affected me. That really started my commitment.”

The business awards, supported by the Yorkshire Post and executive search firm Hitchenor Wakeford, have since raised more than £3m to help disabled and disadvantaged children across Yorkshire.

This year, the other sponsors are Bartlett Insurance Brokers, Ernst & Young, Evans Property Group, Pace, Pinsent Masons, Rothschild, Santander Corporate Banking and Yorkshire Building Society.