Charity praises generosity of region

Variety took the decision to postpone its Yorkshire Property Awards event at Harrogate’s Rudding Park venue during the spring.

The annual event routinely attracts more than 1,000 guests and is a significant contributor to Variety’s revenues for the year. The charity asked its sponsors and all those who had taken tickets and tables for the Yorkshire Property Awards to make a charitable donation of 80 per cent of the monies to Variety with 20 per cent carried over to next year’s event.

Collectively, Variety’s backers have raised £120,000 to support its work in aiding some of the region’s most disadvantaged children.

Charlotte Farrington, inset, regional development director for Variety in Yorkshire, said that the backing from the region’s business community had been “incredible” and wished to place on record her thanks for the support it had received.

She said: “I was incredibly anxious to make such an ask of the property sector as I appreciate that Covid has had an impact on us all.

“The response we received was incredible, the messages of support and good wishes were truly humbling and gave us hope in very difficult times for Variety.

“Our sponsors have gone above and beyond expectations and I would personally like to say a heartfelt thank you to each and every company who came forward to help us through this crisis.

“We never take your support for granted and I’m looking forward to being able to thank you all in person at next year’s event.”

The Yorkshire Property Awards are sponsored by Addleshaw Goddard, Richard Boothroyd & Associates, Quod, Graham Interiors, The Yorkshire Post, DS Emotion, Potter Space, Turner & Townsend, Verdion, Interserve Construction, Castlehouse Construction, JPG, Rex Procter and Partners, Walker Morris, Stephen George & Partners, Barclays, CEG, Network Space and Palace Capital.

The current picture is a far cry from that seen back in March when the charity was concerned about its revenue streams drying up.

At the time, Ms Farrington made an impassioned plea in the pages of The Yorkshire Post to the region’s business community to keep them in mind once they had got past the initial firefighting stage that Covid had brought to the economy.

Five months later, it seems that plea has been answered.

While the income has been welcome in terms of helping support the work Variety does, it is still significantly behind the revenue stream it was enjoying at this time last year.

As Yorkshire’s economy and society begins to power up again, the support of the region’s business community will be more important than ever.