AquAid Tyne & Wear Attains Charitable Donations Milestone

AquAid Tyne & Wear Attains Charitable Donations Milestone

By Fern Shaw

AquAid Tyne & Wear, operating since 2002, this year celebrates twenty years in the provision of an extensive range of innovative and high-quality water coolers and dispensers, along with a total commitment to offering superior services to their 2,000 customers.

Reaching this 20-year anniversary holds more than one reason for celebration though – it also marks an incredible achievement with the branch donating just under £500,000 to the charities AquAid have supported since our inception in 1998.

In view of this remarkable achievement, we spoke to Gordon and Emir Dobson, who own and operate AquAid Tyne & Wear and asked for their comment.

“We are absolutely delighted that our donations have reached this level: these small contributions we know have made a big difference to those who need it.

Here’s to the next £500,000!” ~ Emir Dobson, Owner Director – AquAid Tyne & Wear

Extracts below are from a letter to Emir and Gordon written by Ian Thorpe, CEO of The Africa Trust, in recognition of this milestone.

“Many congratulations as you approach your twentieth anniversary for the Tyne and Wear franchise of AquAid. I was astonished to learn that your franchise alone has raised such an extraordinary amount of money for charity during the last two decades. With a current donation figure of £487,915 I have no doubt that during your anniversary year, you will achieve the tremendous milestone of over half a million pounds raised.

Thank you for the part you and your colleagues at AquAid Tyne &Wear are playing in lifting people out of poverty to live healthier and more productive lives.

You have also raised over £240k for Christian Aid, and during the last three years alone, 3,321 people in Malawi have received entrepreneurial training (at a cost of £12 each) and assistance to start small businesses.“ ~ Ian Thorpe, Chief Executive – The Africa Trust

Should you too like to play a part in this phenomenal, philanthropic movement simply by keeping yourself and your company, organisation or school hydrated, contact AquAid today.

Charity Begins Wherever You Are

‘And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity’

We are extraordinarily proud of our AquAid team, their hard work and commitment in providing their best to our customers. In turn, our customers’ support contributes immeasurably towards our ability to continue to donate to charities that implement life-changing clean water resources for people in need.

It is therefore, with much humility, we thank every single member of the AquAid team who continue to make sure that our customers: from remote working, cubbyhole home offices through to frontline medical facilities, frontline workers, schools, colleges and unis, to small, medium and large corporations, have had access to refreshing drinking water, whatever the work situation, wherever the location.

And thank you to all our customers, established and new, who continue their valued custom of our services, with whom we hope to continue a longstanding business relationship as your preferred drinking water, water dispenser and water cooler supplier.

As we head towards the close of another year, we begin to reflect on what the year held for us, highs, lows and in-between. All of which is why this announcement is certainly a high:

It is thanks to all, AquAid and customers alike, we are delighted to announce that as of October this year, we have passed the threshold of £18 million in donations to charity.

If you would like to know how you, too, can remaining refreshed and hydrated, all while contributing charitable donations, simply by partnering with us at AquAid, do get in contact. We are here to assist.

How to Kick Off your New Year (healthily)

How to Kick Off your New Year (healthily)

There are a large percentage of us Britons who make New Year’s Resolutions, but a very small percentage who keep them. Perhaps there’s a better way in which to approach resolutions and in so doing, make resolutions a breeze to keep.

Research shows that as soon as we attach the word ‘resolution’ to intent, our resolve goes out the window, round about a few days after the resolution was first made.

Now imagine if we all approached the dreaded res. dilemma with a new outlook – as an example – what if we started making decisions about the year ahead? If you think about it, we make decisions (the good, bad and the neither here or there) every day of our lives, but they’re decisions nonetheless – no big deal.

So perhaps a good idea is to kick off the year is to haul out your New Year’s Resolution list, tack it up somewhere and re-word it, so it reads something like this:

Lose weight x        I’ve decided to walk to the office/shop/school.

Drink less x             For each tea or coffee I drink, I’m going to drink a glass of water.

Spend less x           For each 50p I save, I’m donating to a charity close to my heart.

Eat less x                 I’ve decided to drink more water before each meal.

What decisions have you decided upon for this year then? Mine reads something like this:

I’ve decided to spend more time outdoors and to walk more.

I’ve decided to drink more water and less of the fizzy stuff, especially at work.

I’ve decided to spread more awareness about how paying it forward truly makes a difference to others.

You get the gist of this decision making vs. resolution failing, right? I’m just going to leave this here for you then.

Here’s wishing you all a splendiferous 2017.

Ross Dowsett – Super Manager, Super Dad and Super Walker

Ross Dowsett – Super Manager, Super Dad and Super Walker

Regional Manager – AquAid Surrey

To date, meeting some of the AquAid team has taken us all over the U.K., as far as San Francisco in the USA, and even Tanzania, Africa with Ian Thorpe of The Africa Trust for Christmas with the Maasai.

Today we learn a bit more about Ross Dowsett, Regional Manager at AquAid Surrey.

Ross has been with AquAid Surrey since January 2004.  His position keeps him on his toes working a 10 hour day. When he’s not at work, much of his time is spent being a Dad, ferrying his children to various after school activities.

His 10 year old daughter does judo and plays various instruments on the school team and his 6 year old boy participates in football and swimming. Seems like busy runs in the family!

When he can find the time, Ross realises his grand passion for cooking.  He watches practically every cooking programme on TV and often tries out and recreates the dishes, with, as he says, ‘varied results’.

From what Ross told us, his results now are a far cry from the days when he started on this taste adventure.  Apparently, his first attempt at making his favourite dish from scratch – a Chicken & Apricot Curry from a Rick Stein recipe  – didn’t go quite as planned.

He confused tablespoon (Tbs.) with teaspoon (tsp.) measurements, and ended up having to glug a tub of natural yoghurt to stop the burn. Thankfully, the days of confusing measurements are long past and diners chez Ross are in for a treat.

He’s also been told that his Spaghetti Bolognaise is the best around, perfected from his mum’s recipe.  I have to agree – there’s nothing quite like a good Bolognaise – tops on the comfort food list.

Another activity that keeps Ross on his toes is, as he says, ‘trying to keep fit by taking long walks as often as is possible’ as each year he tries to ensure that he enters a 13+ mile walk for charity.  It’s this inspiration that gets him to go out on cold winter nights in all weathers to get a bit of training in.

On the 22nd of this month, Ross is doing the Marsden March. It is a 14 mile walk from the Royal Marsden Hospital Fulham to The Royal Marsden Hospital in Sutton. The Marsden Hospital specialises in the treatment of cancer.

This means a lot to Ross as he lost his mother to cancer 12 years ago and other people in his family are now battling the illness.

If any of you would like to sponsor Ross you can do so at Just Giving. All sponsorships, irrespective of the amount, will be for a most worthwhile cause!

So, there you have another of the ‘Meet the AquAid Team:’ – Ross Dowsett – super pretty much everything! Thanks for a slice of your valuable time, Ross!

The Africa Trust – Summer’s Coming!

The Africa Trust – Summer’s Coming!

Remember the heat wave? You must – it was only a month or so ago. Now, take those temperatures and turn up the heat, so to speak, by a good 8 °C. Or for that matter, another 10°C.

Now, take a good 38°C and couple it with scant shade … and … no water.

Then, to this rather sweltering image, add this: If you want drinking water, you need to walk to go and find it. And not just down to the corner caf, but a few miles. When you get there, you can’t just buy a bottle of water (or any liquid for that matter); you have to fill the bucket that you brought with you and walk back home, carrying the now full bucket.

Not enough Bear Grylls for you? The water that you’ve just fetched is most likely, not fresh, and not clean and may be so full of bacteria, that even while trying to hydrate yourself, you may very well be making yourself ill without even realising it.

Remember, this is just water for you (and possibly, members of your family) to drink. This is not water that is needed to wash your clothes or your dishes or to water your meagre food crop with. This is just water to drink to keep you going. This is basic human survival type of stuff.

This is the day to day existence for many communities throughout the Third World and in the summer months, lack of potable water is amplified by the heat.

That’s just one of the reasons that AquAid chose to work with sustainable charities like The Africa Trust.

Because although we’re always tooting our horn about being one of the top water cooler providers in the U.K. we also (truly) believe in helping others less fortunate to help themselves. So, while we have you to thank, most valued customer, for your support and through your purchases making it possible for others to help themselves; isn’t it rather nice to know that when you’re sipping cool spring water from one of our water coolers, there’s another Elephant Pump being built in Africa, bringing fresh, clean drinking water to yet another community in need?

I think so. Good on yer. Toot toot!