3,600 calls later and everyone was still laughing!
19 March 2007
FUN, laughter, red noses and most importantly fundraising were the order of the night on Friday 16 March when Chelsea Building Society turned their call centre into a fundraising hotline for Comic Relief.
This was the first time that Chelsea had donated their call centre to be used by Comic Relief and it was decorated with bunting, balloons and hundreds of red noses to get staff into the party mood.
The 80 phone lines went live at 7pm, the same time as the BBC programme started and 120 volunteers took turns taking over 3,600 phone donations throughout the evening until midnight. To help answer the calls, cricketing legend Jack Russell, Gloucester rugby star Adam Balding and best selling author Katie Fforde also donned headsets and took public pledges.
As a thank you to staff for giving up their evening, pizzas, party food, sweets and drinks were on constant supply, many of which were donated by local companies to show their support to Chelsea.
Susie Ratcliffe, who organised Chelsea's call centre, said 'We had a fantastic evening full of fun and laughter. There was a huge buzz around the call centre and knowing that you are having such fun while helping such a fantastic cause makes the evening even more enjoyable. Our staff are already talking about next time!'
'I am immensely proud of the staff at Chelsea for their fundraising efforts for Comic Relief. Throughout the day we had lots of events such as battery operated pig racing, leg waxing for men and cake sales and we smashed through our fund raising targets' said Richard Hornbrook Chief Executive at Chelsea. 'To be able to continue our support into the evening was just incredible. The dedication, commitment and teamwork by our staff shone through making the whole day one I'll never forget.'
Notes
- Chelsea Building Society is the UK's 6th largest building society with assets of over £11bn.
- Comic Relief registered charity 326568
- For more information or photos of the night please contact Susie Ratcliffe on 01242 271332
