Community review of 2023
As an independent family run business, we feel it is incredibly important to give back to the local community. Here is a summary of what we have done in 2023.
Nightingale House Hospice
In 2007 Joan Bellis decided it would be appropriate to concentrate our charity fundraising on Nightingale House Hospice in Wrexham. Since then we have worked in association with this wonderful charity and we are delighted to say that we have raised a total of £170,254.46 since this partnership began.
Our total for 2023 was £11,322.38 which is a fantastic amount. This was raised from events including an Easter Chick Hunt, A Summers Evening of Song, A Festive Weekend with real reindeer, Santa’s Grotto and Breakfast with Santa.
The money we raise helps the hospice to continue providing specialist palliative care for patients and their families. We would like to thank all of our staff and customers for their continued support.
Wrexham AFC T-shirt Giveaway
We were proud to have been chosen by Wrexham AFC in collaboration with Vista Print as a local business to celebrate our teams success by holding a t-shirt giveaway. They were given away in record time!
We are very proud of our association with Wrexham Football Club especially as Joan Bellis has been a supporter for over 70 years and a hospitality volunteer for more than 30 years.
The whole buzz of pride about Wrexham is felt by our customers and staff, young and old. The club’s success has brought a lot of positivity and we wish them all best with the coming football season.
Age Connect North East Wales
We hosted our popular ‘Bingo Evening’ which raised just over £800 for this very worthy local charity. For further details please visit: www.ageconnectsnewales.org.uk
Bellis’ Coffee Club
Bellis’ Coffee Club continues to be well attended with new members always welcome. It is a chance to meet up with people regularly for a coffee and catch up. No booking is required and it is held every Thursday from 9.30am to 10.30am in the Strawberry Fields Restaurant.
Greenfingers Charity Garden Re-leaf Day
We held a cake sale in March this year as part of the Greenfingers Charity Garden Re-leaf Day which raised £207.05. The cakes were all made by our staff, much to the delight of our customers! Greenfingers is a national charity that aims to provide all life-limited children, their families, and carers, within their hospice, emotional support through the power and pleasure of nature.
The Country Trust
The Country Trust is a small, dynamic, national education charity dedicated to bringing alive the working countryside for children least able to access it. They work with local volunteer host farms to bring food, farming and the countryside to disadvantaged children. Sharing knowledge, igniting curiosity and broadening horizons. We have been working in partnership with The Country Trust for a few years now and hosted visits for local school groups in October 2023. For further details about this charity please visit: www.countrytrust.org.uk
Our local Primary Schools of Holt and Farndon
We enjoy working with both of our local schools and are happy to support them with their fundraising activities throughout the year.
Holt School visited us to help with their history project. They had entered the Welsh Heritage School’s Initiative which is a competition that allows pupils to learn about their heritage with links to the local community. The children were very keen to learn about how Bellis’ contributed to the war effort during WW2 and so their project ‘It’s not just jam’ was born! Bellis’ have been growing strawberries since 1860 and strawberries were a large part of the war time rations as they were made into jam. Estelle from our restaurant made strawberry jam for them to taste, Joan Bellis talked to the children and we were joined by Nigel Meyrick a World War researcher and expert. We were very impressed with how beautifully behaved the children were.
Holt Community Gardeners
In 2023 we donated the proceeds from our carrier bag charge to this worthy group again. The total donated was £316.93. For the ‘Holt in Bloom’ project we also proudly displayed a planted-up bike at the entrance to the store.
Teenage Cancer Trust
One of our regular customers and neighbour actively supports the Teenage Cancer Trust and has raised a phenomenal amount of money for the charity. Enid Waterfall is an inspiration to us all, tirelessly raising money for this charity and always with a smile on her face. We host regular collections in-store with Enid and her family.
Local Groups
Many local groups and charities joined us in-store to improve awareness about their group/charity. In 2023 we were joined by: MND Cheshire & Wrexham, Vision support, Chariots Wrexham, Rainbow Foundation, Burton and Rossett Horticultural Society, Fall Awareness, The Movement Centre and Nightingale House Lottery.
If you would like to raise awareness about your group/charity with us in 2024 please get in touch.
We look forward to an exciting and active 2024 within our community!
