Great Britain and Ice Hockey UK’s main team sponsor SMP Europe has announced it has raised an outstanding £28,000 for charity following a superb partnership between the two organisations.
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As principal sponsor of Ice Hockey UK and the GB teams, SMP Europe have changed their corporate colours on all GB-related clothing and merchandise to pink, signifying the company’s effort to use their sponsorship to raise funds for the charity.
The automotive parts manufacturer has worked closely with IHUK to create fundraising opportunities, most recently they produced a special jersey for the warm-up games prior to GB’s successful World Championship campaign earlier this year.
These shirts were based on the Olympic jerseys where GB won gold nearly 100 years ago and the design included a stitched pink ribbon on the neck.
Only jerseys intended for use on the ice were produced and these were sold following the games allowing SMP Europe to accomplish the incredible amount of £28,000 overall.
Managing Director of SMP Europe, Ross Toomey, said: “We are immensely proud of the work we have done to raise this sum of money.
“We are a family-owned and operated business and we have experienced the trials associated with this disease, both in our business and in our families. It is a cause close to all our hearts.
“I’d like to express my gratitude to Andy French, the GB players and the rest of the IHUK team for their support and efforts in sharing our goal.
“I’d also like to thank everyone who has donated or spent money that has contributed to this figure, we absolutely could not have done it without your support.”
Andy French, Ice Hockey UK General Secretary, said: “This is an incredible amount of money raised by our friends at SMP Europe. We are very proud to partner with them and support them in their charity fundraising.
“Congratulations to the whole team at SMP for this remarkable fundraising and we know the money is going to a very important cause.”
The sum will be donated to a breast cancer charity through the UK Charity Allstars organisation which hosts an annual charity hockey tournament, with each team representing and raising money for a chosen charity.
The £28,000 sum will be donated to the Brest Cancer Now team. This donation will also signify a huge milestone for UK Charity Allstars tipping their total raised to over £1m in their 15-year campaign.
Geraint Walters, Founder of UK Charity Allstars, said: “We’re extremely grateful for the support of SMP Europe through the donation from the shirt sales from the GB shirts during the warm-up games for the World Championship.
“Through members of their company playing in our event, the UK Charity Allstars weekend has a great working relationship with SMP Europe and the donation announced today epitomises that relationship.
“Not only will it have a significant impact for the better of Breast Cancer Now, but it also takes the history of the fundraising through our event past quite a significant milestone of £1 million raised.”
To find out more about UK Charity Allstars please click here and for more details about SMP Europe, click here.