Massive congratulations to our corporate partner Saks Hair & Beauty UK who have now broken the halfway mark of their fundraising target! Over the past year, Saks salons have raised over £60,0000 for The Eve Appeal’s ground breaking gynaecological cancer research, thanks in no small part to a truly amazing effort throughout Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month in March and their heroic zip wire challenge in May.
Here’s how Saks salons managed to pass this landmark total, and what they plan on doing in their journey to their £100,000 fundraising target…
During March, the Eve Appeal invited Saks salons across the UK (from Aberdeen to Exeter and Great Yarmouth), to Make Time For Tea, bringing customers, stylists and therapists together to enjoy tea parties, Easter celebrations and fancy dress games in the name of women’s cancers.
Huge thanks to every Saks Salon involved; All three Aberdeen Salons, both Cheadle Salons, Chester, Crouch End, Halifax, Kings Hill, Lincoln, Middleton, Northallerton, Reading, Scotch Corner and the West Bridgford salons all threw amazing tea parties, and of course Saks HQ got involved too. The effort put in, and the achievements made are truly fantastic – especially from the top three tea party fundraisers: Saks Ripon, who raised an incredible £593.20; Saks Bristol, who raised a wonderful £493 and Saks Cheadle, who raised a fantastic £400.87 – contributing to the amazing total of £2891.17 raised by tea parties, with more still coming in!
One of our biggest fundraisers to date took place in November of last year, when Saks Hexham held a fashion show. The hard work put into the show by the salon really paid off when they raised over four thousand pounds at a truly fabulous event. Over 150 people attended Matfen Hall for the glamourous night. Salon Owner Andrea Currah sadly lost her mam to cervical cancer in 2012, and so was determined to make the absolute most of the Saks4eve partnership.
Andrea says: “My team of stylists threw themselves into this huge task and it paid off beautifully. We knew we were being ambitious but everyone gave 100% and I can’t praise them enough. We’ve loved creating such a big buzz in salon for such a great cause!”
But it hasn’t all been tea parties, fashion shows and dressing up, some Saks salons decided to put their athletic abilities to the test, such as Saks Bishop Auckland, who held a 13 mile sponsored cycle, raising a fabulous £259.
Inspired by the success of her zip challenge last year, Margaret Watson of Saks Whitley Bay gathered a brave team of hair and beauty experts from salons across the UK in Snowdonia, where they took part in an incredible challenge – riding the fastest zip wire in the world. The fearless team, including teams from Saks salons in Chester, Northallerton, Cheadle, Halifax, Gosforth, Middleton, Scarborough, Aberdeen, Lytham, Poulton, South Shields, Chester Le Street, Whitley Bay, Bolton, Liverpool and Saks HQ (including Managing Director) Stephen Kee, reached speeds of over 100mph as they zoomed down the longest zip wire in Europe, and collectively managed to raise over £6,500 during their hair-raising challenge. The team from Bolton had even taken part in a 10k race that morning before jumping into a car and heading out for the zip challenge! As you can see, everyone had a hugely fun and exhilarating day, and it was absolutely worth it.
Plenty of photos were taken, as well as some truly amazing video, which really shows that no challenge is too big for Team Saks!
Charlotte Tutchings of the Saks Exeter Salon took the plunge on her 21st birthday with a fundraising Skydive! Charlotte raised a fantastic £335 with her unique birthday celebration. A big thank you to Charlotte for taking to the skies for us!
With all of this incredible work, most would want to take a well-earned breather – but Saks people are not most people, they are already hard at work planning future events, from nights in to yet more daredevil stunts.
The team from Saks York will be soaring to new heights, with Jess, Beth, Louise and Ashleigh touching down from their skydive on 25th September.
September is also Gynaecological Cancer Awareness Month, and last year this was marked by Saks4Eve Sunday, with salons across the country opening their doors and offering hari and beauty treats for minimum donations, this year we are hoping to repeat the success, with some Salons already planning their events.
An enormous thank you to everyone at Saks for getting involved, and for your amazing continued support of The Eve Appeal. The enthusiasm which you’ve shown, is incredible and we wouldn’t be able to fund ground-breaking gynaecological cancer research projects without support like yours. If you’re one of our fundraisers you should be incredibly proud of all you’ve achieved. We know we’re proud of you!
There are even more Saks events planned throughout the rest of the year as Saks close in on their target of £100,000! Keep up do date with all things Saks on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Why not find out what’s happening in your local salon.