It will be the first time FTCT has had a runner in this iconic race, making Brendan’s offer of support even more special.

Please join us in wishing Brendan the best of luck as he embarks on his training for the event. Watch this space for more updates and info, including how you can sponsor Brendan’s marathon run.

Hosted by fashion stylist Mark Heyes, celebrities including Caprice, TV presenter Carol Smilie, fashion tycoon Harold Tillman (pictured with Anna) and former tennis star Annabelle Croft joined the prestigious guest list for this glamorous event.

Contour Fashion Ball is the annual event for the lingerie and intimate apparel sector, organised by a dedicated committee of volunteers from across the lingerie industry.

Sharon Webb, Chair of the Contour Committee and Head of Buying and Design – Lingerie at Debenhams, said: “The Committee worked tirelessly to make this event a major success – and this is reflected in the fundraising and the same people attending year after year. With this being our 52nd Contour Ball, the event is steeped in history, but raises money for two very relevant and modern charities that help those most in need in our industry.”

We would like to say a huge thank you to the committee for organising last night’s event and to everyone who took part in last night’s fabulous fundraisers from the diamond draw, to the glamorous silent auction, helping to raise much needed funds for our two charities. Our thanks too, to our wonderful FRA student volunteers Emily, David and Nika for all their help at the event.

For more photos from the event, please visit our Flickr page.

This week, we had the pleasure of meeting Alexa Besnard (pictured), UK Marketing Manager of Bureau Veritas Consumer Products Services, when she came in to present us with a cheque for £1,000 on behalf of the company. Bureau Veritas donated £5 to FTCT for each person attending one of their UK seminars throughout 2012. Their seminars are attended by many employees from the textile industry, including importers, designers, manufacturers and retailers of fashion products, making them a very relevant audience for FTCT.

Alexa told FTCT, “We are delighted to have been able to raise £1,000 for such a dynamic charity. We hope that this initiative helped spread the word about FTCT. I could only recommend other fashion & textile companies to get in touch with Anna and her team to find out how they can support FTCT’s amazing work.”

The difference this donation will make to the lives of the children we support is huge. It enables us to provide tutoring sessions for two more children with complex learning difficulties, specialist laptops for three more profoundly deaf children, or school uniforms for six more children living in poverty.

We are so grateful to Bureau Veritas, for generously choosing to support FTCT throughout 2012 and would like to thank everyone who attended their seminars, for helping to raise this fantastic amount.

Got an idea for how your company could raise money for FTCT? Please contact fundraising@ftct.org.uk and we’ll send you all the supporting materials you need.

We’ve teamed up with CAF Give As You Earn®, the UK’s leading payroll giving scheme, so your donation is taken direct from your salary before tax is deducted. Every pound you donate costs you only 80p if you’re a basic rate taxpayer, and even less if you’re a higher rate taxpayer.

Plus, Give As You Earn is FTCT friendly too, because it’s so easy to set up and manage, meaning more of our time can be spent focusing on the children we support.

Interested? Call to us today on 020 7170 4117 we’ll send you some forms to help you get things set up through your employer.

We’ve teamed up with CAF Give As You Earn®, the UK’s leading payroll giving scheme, so your donation is taken direct from your salary before tax is deducted. Every pound you donate costs you only 80p if you’re a basic rate taxpayer, and even less if you’re a higher rate taxpayer.

Plus, Give As You Earn is FTCT friendly too, because it’s so easy to set up and manage, meaning more of our time can be spent focusing on the children we support.

Interested? Call to us today on 020 7170 4117 we’ll send you some forms to help you get things set up through your employer.

During our visit we were able to tell AVUK’s Family Liaison officer, Isobel Weller (pictured), more about our grants and how we could help to support many more children like Louie, to benefit from therapy sessions at the centre.

Auditory Verbal Therapy is an individualised, auditory, developmental programme, implemented by the child’s family in close collaboration with a therapist, with the goal of achieving age appropriate spoken language ability, and full social participation throughout childhood and beyond. Through this therpay, hearing and listening become an integral part of communication, play, education and eventually work (source www.avuk.org).

There is growing interest amongst families and professionals in the UK for Auditory Verbal Therpay, but is not available on the NHS, meaning parents must carry the therapy costs. AVUK currently run a bursary fund for parents on low income, however places are limited and demand for the therapies continue to grow.

This is where FTCT can help. We can provide funding for a child to complete AVUK’s therapy course, where their parent or carer has a trade connection to the fashion and textile industry and low income is a barrier for their child’s access to auditory verbal therapy. This will in turn enable more children to access AVUK’s bursary fun and the therapy they need.

Isobel told FTCT, “I am so glad to have found out about the funding available through FTCT for children undertaking AVT at AVUK, as we never want finance to be a barrier for children to come to us, but as a small charity it’s often difficult to help families find the funding they need. So thank you, FTCT, for making that a possibility for children who might not otherwise have the chance!” 

FTCT posters will now be going up in both AVUK’s London and Oxfordshire therapy centres and information about grants available will be given to all future families with a trade connection to the industry.

To find out more about the fabulous work of AVUK, please visit www.avuk.org. If you know a child like Louie, who FTCT may be able to support, please contact Karen, FTCT’s Grants Co-Ordinator on grants@ftct.org.uk.

Representatives from local educational facilities including, Shenton and Sparkenhoe Primary Schools and Uplands Infant school were there, along with the local police and library services, plus The Race Equality Centre, Open Hands Trust, Akwaaba Ayeh, Somali Development Service and the Highfields Multi Access Centre, where the meeting was held.

Anna’s presentation about our grants programme was warmly received and our posters and contact cards will soon be winging their way to families in need across the south of the city, courtesy of those we met during the session.

Following our meeting we were invited by Jon to visit the Shama Womens Centre (pictured), a brilliant organisation which helps women, particularly from disadvantaged communities, to improve their lives, develop their skills and integrate with the wider community. We were joined at the centre by Deputy Mayor Rory Palmer, chair of the Leicester Child Poverty Commission which recently published a report on levels of deprivation in the city. Rory was very interested to meet FTCT, as he felt our grants, ”could support the general aims of the Commission.”

The dynamic director of Shama Womens Centre, Yasmin Nathani proudly showed our group around the centre, and their wonderful sewing room, which offers training opportunities, such as NVQ and access to employment in the Leicester garment manufacturing industry. Many of the women already on the course and those who have passed through it’s doors may be eligible for a grant for their child, making our new partnership with Shama Womens Centre so valuable.

We would like to say a huge thank you to Jon Ashworth for inviting us to these two wonderful events and to Gavin and Radhika from Jon’s office, for organising the day. It was an absolute pleasure to meet Rory Palmer and hope to have the opportunity to work more closely with both Rory and Jon in the future.Lastly we would like to our new friends at the Shama Womens Centre for such a warm wonderful visit and making us feel so welcome.

We have no doubt this will not be our last visit to the centre and hope to be able to support many more families in the Highfields and Leicester area.

Click here to read Jon Ashworth’s own blog post about the visit.

At the heart of the event are the two charities who will benefit from the evening, ourselves, the Fashion & Textile Children’s Trust and the Retail Trust. There will be a tempting range of luxurious prizes to be won throughout the night, to help beat last year’s target of raising a whopping £52,000 for both charities.

Can’t make it on the night? Simply click here to make an online donation online that will reach both charities.  For more details about the event, or to find out how you can become a sponsor, please visit the official website:www.thecontourfashionball.com

How can we help?
We can offer grants for the children of individuals who worked in any aspect of Axminster Carpets, whether manufacture, head office functions or distribution, to help bridge the gap until they find new employment. Whether by funding everyday essentials such as clothing, bedding, school uniform or shoes for their children, or helping with more long term implications of redundancy such as school bus passes or funding school meals, our grants can make a big difference during this tricky time.

We’ve already been in touch with the Mayor of Axminster, Andrew Moulding and Peter Porteous from Axminster Job Club, who are working closely with families in the community hardest hit by the closures. Posters about our grants will shortly be going up in local colleges and schools and information about our grants is being sent along the community grapevine to those who need it most.

If you know anyone affected by the closure of Axminster Carpets, please ask them to contact Karen on 020-7170-4117 or grants@ftct.org.uk to find out if we can help their child. Or click here to download a special poster, to put up in your local area.

Based in Deptford and 17 other depots across the UK, Fare Share aims to distribute fresh food and fruit to charities and community groups across the UK, who are working with disadvantaged people.  The food is surplus ‘fit for purpose’ product from the food and drink industry and includes contributions from Sainsbury’s, Tesco’s and Marks & Spencers.  Fare Share distributes 9 – 10 million meals per year, feeding 36,000 people a day.

Through our partnership with Fare Share, and the possibility of including our own charity’s information packs with the food crates sent to charities, (some of whom we are also working with), we hope to be able to raise awareness of the support we can give.

If you work in the UK fashion and textile industry and you need help with essential items,  please call Karen our Grants Co-ordinator on 020-7170-4117