Ward Hadaway are top charity traders

A team comprising mainly of trainee solicitors from the firm have been announced as winners of newspaper The Chronicle’s 2014 ‘Trade-Up Challenge’, having raised the most money for the Chronicle’s Sunshine Fund, which provides vital care and support for disabled children in the North-East.

Charity win – members of the Ward Hadaway Trade-Up Challenge Team. (Picture courtesy of ncj media)

The challenge saw teams from 10 businesses being presented with a teddy bear signed by Geordie TV stars Ant and Dec which the teams had to ‘trade up’ to get a higher value item, continuing to do so until the end of the challenge.

Using their powers of persuasion, the Ward Hadaway team carried out the following series of trade-ups: a £100 meal voucher at Harry’s Bar; a 3 course a la carte meal for 2 (with £35 bottle of wine) at Malmaison; an executive overnight stay at the Hilton with breakfast and a 10-course tasting menu for two at Jesmond Dene House before arriving at the final prize of an evening meal and overnight stay in an upgraded room at Crathorne Hall Hotel, complete with breakfast and a bottle of wine.

Additionally, a range of local businesses were also contacted, including the Pitcher and Piano bar and the Tyne and Wear Metro, who were invited to donate extra prizes for the cause.

This resulted in a further nine prizes being donated, which were raffled off alongside the Crathorne Hall hotel stay at Ward Hadaway’s staff party. The final total raised for the Sunshine Fund from the team’s efforts was £867.65

The full line-up of the team was as follows: Trainee Solicitors Melissa Walker, Hollie Walker, Gemma Child, Caroline Norton, Rebecca Graham, Eleanor King, Myles O’Gorman, Amie Kavanagh and Catherine Maclaine; Client Acceptance Administrator Sophie Robinson and Commercial Litigation Associate Russell Ward.

Team member Hollie Walker said: “As a team we are obviously really pleased to have won the Trade-Up Challenge, but the most important aspect is that all of this money has been raised for an amazing cause.

“As well as the work put in by the Ward Hadaway team, we could not have done this without the magnificent support of so many local businesses who got involved in the challenge, whether by taking part in trades or by donating prizes.”

Jamie Martin, managing partner at Ward Hadaway, said: “This is a terrific effort by the team who worked really hard to make a success of this challenge and raise as much money as possible for a great cause.

“As a firm, we believe strongly in contributing to the communities which support us and this was a great way to do just that.”