Walker Laird scores for the Scottish Association for Mental Health

Walker Laird were proud to take part in a charity football tournament which was hosted by Rutherford Cross in order to raise money for SAMH, the nation’s leading mental health charity. It was an excellent team-bonding event fuelled by competitive spirit and we've managed to raise over a whopping £1,000 in donations so far! The tournament took place at Powerleague, Townhead in Glasgow and was a brilliant way for Michael Wilson, his colleagues and friends to unwind from the office and interact with the other companies participating in the tournament.

The event was extremely well organised by the Rutherford Cross team, it was great to see such enthusiasm not only amongst all the teams participating, but the supporters that came along and helped give the players that little extra "kick", allowing us to reach the semi-final in the tournament!

Supporting SAMH

Walker Laird were delighted to contribute towards such a worthy cause along with the other companies: Clydesdale Bank, AJ Gallagher Insurance, Maxim, Dawnfresh, City Facilities, Wright Johnston MacKenzie, Keepmoat, French Duncan, First Milk and Harper MacLeod.

Congratulations to the winning team, AJ Gallagher Insurance. Walker Laird will be back training soon to hopefully reach the final next year!

SAMH aims to reduce the stigma attached to mental health, promote good mental health and provide invaluable support to those indeed. If you would like to make a donation to support this charity, you can do so by following this link: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/jonathan-donnelly1

 


Walker Laird are fundraising for BBC Children in Need 2016

At Walker Laird, we are always proud to support both local and national charities, throughout the year. We took part in various fundraising events last year, such as Children in Need and Text Santa, and earlier this month we were delighted to once again attend The Business Lunch in Glasgow, supporting the Prince & Princes of Wales Hospice.

Last year, we decided to raise funds for BBC Children in Need, with a dress-down day in our office. Our staff made donations to take part on the day and we were delighted to make a contribution to the charity, which raises funds for disadvantaged young people across the UK. With such a great response from our team, we will once again be swapping our work wear for casual dress tomorrow.

Thank You

We would like to thank everyone who donated last year and we look forward to another great fundraising effort tomorrow.


Walker Laird At The Business Lunch

We are delighted to be attending The Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice Business Lunch this Friday, an annual and much-anticipated event on the Scottish Business calendar.

The Glasgow City Chambers will host an afternoon of both business and pleasure, with the opportunity to meet others and network while supporting Glasgow’s hospice.

Chartered Accountants, Campbell Dallas are enthusiastic supporters of the hospice and have been for 16 years. This year, they return as the main sponsor for the event.

Guests And Supporters

The work of the hospice focuses on providing the best quality of life for those living with life-limiting illnesses and offering support for their families, whether that be at home, in hospital or in the hospice itself. As a business, we are proud to support the hospice and look forward to an afternoon of celebrating the work that they do.

Each year, the lunch hosts a guest speaker and we are excited to hear from this year’s speaker, The Rt Hon Brian Wilson, Executive Chairman of Harris Tweed Hebrides, followed by what we are sure will be an exceptional meal.


Constructing Schools in Ghana

Giving something back to communities is something that at Walker Laird is very passionate about. Two of our staff Graham Paisley and Luke Eaton, of our Paisley office, went over and above in helping those in need by giving up their time to fly to Ghana and help build all new facilities at a new school this summer.

This level of dedication has impressed the whole team at Walker Laird, and we wanted to share their story from their time in Africa and just how their work will go to help children over there.

Inspired from a previous trip to Uganda two years ago, also to help construct important buildings, Luke was wanting to return to the continent and assist once again. For Graham, this sounded like a brilliant opportunity to give something back and signed up alongside Luke to go out to the village of Kaleo in Ghana for 17 days, both there as part of a team of nine to help build a teacher's dormitory at a new school.

 

Once they were both signed up, they worked hard at fundraising the money they needed to go over for the trip. After some hard work putting on dedicated fundraiser evenings, raffles and sponsored walks, they both met their target and were ready to embark on this trip.

They arrived in Accra, the capital city of Ghana, which both described as being as “a bit more upmarket”. From here they then had a 17 hour bus journey to the small town of Kaleo, where they would be spending the rest of their time to help construct the dormitory.

Arriving on the Sunday, they met with the builders on the Monday to go over the full project and understand exactly what work needed to be done. Graham and Luke’s team of nine were joined by another group, also from Scotland, who were building classrooms. During their time their, they all worked hard to construct these much needed areas for the school.

Supporting Education

In this school most of the kids who would be attending were not actually from Kaleo, but from outside. This is simply due to the fact that it still costs money for a child to attend. So over the 17 days they were there, Graham and Luke were able to get to know some of the local children and residents, including the village chief, who could be found enjoying a refreshing beer in the 40°C heat!

Since they returned, they both said that they would “go back in a heartbeat”, and have plans to return in a few years and volunteer once more. The experience has been an extremely positive one for Graham and Luke, and everyone here at Walker Laird are happy to have two such giving members of the team.

If you would like to find out more about how you can get involved with helping communities abroad, why not check out the charity Graham and Luke supported on their trip - Connected. Check out more of their pictures from the gallery below!