‘What a bright time….it’s the right time…’

If you’re anything like me and you love getting in the Christmas spirit you will have welcomed Christmas decorations making their appearance in people’s homes on the first weekend of November, others I know will not share this mindset at all…

‘Bah Humbug’ I say!

Christmas seems to be approaching rather more quickly than we all anticipated. 2020 has truly been a year where nothing seems to surprise us. With Bo Jo in charge of our Christmas social calendar, APS have taken their Christmas cheer and decided to donate heaps of money to our chosen charities.

The week before Christmas the APS team meet for an EXTREMELY merry, turkey fuelled Christmas meal. It’s a time where we all get together and celebrate our years hard work. Yes…fine it does get a little hazy after about 9pm but we all have the best time. This year will be different though. We have decided the money we could have spent on this meal could be put to much better use elsewhere.

2020 has been a harsh year for businesses but even more so for charities who will approximately see a £6.4bn total loss of income over the six months from June to the end of December 2020. Out of 170,000 UK charities this will potentially make 1 in 10 bankrupt.

We have decided to donate money we would have used for our Christmas meal to Shepherds Down School for waterproof overalls, so that the children can play in the APS donated mud kitchens in the wet weather…mud pie doesn’t stop just because it rains you know!

We also donated money to Parkinson’s Oxford which is part of the charity Parkinson’s UK that endeavours to drive better care, treatments and quality of life for people who suffer from Parkinson’s Disease.

Classically like any other company we send out Christmas gifts to our clients and employees. This year we thought we would give people the option of whether they would like APS to donate to Naomi’s House or Shepherds Down School on behalf of them instead of receiving a gift. In light of this and the generosity of our clients and employees we have been able to sponsor 10 children to have a visit from Father Christmas in a COVID friendly manner at Naomi’s House and Jacks Place Children’s Hospice. We have also donated even more money for more waterproof clothing for the children at Shepherds Down School.

Christmas is a special time, a time of giving and receiving. All APS ask this year is that you think about giving a little further…