Our friend and colleague Sophie & The Screwfix Foundation

Hi, my name is Dave and alongside my colleagues from my former store Screwfix Waterlooville and supported by our area team, we are raising money to be split between our colleague Sophie and the Screwfix foundation.

Back in January of this year Sophie was diagnosed with cancer shortly before her 30th birthday. It had then been found to have spread to a secondary location. Sophie started chemotherapy in March and has had a rough start so we would like to do something for her.

To be diagnosed with an advanced stage of cancer that has also spread is awful news for anyone, but for someone young like Sophie, it is a bit harder to accept.

Sophie started working as my assistant manager in Waterlooville in June last year, quickly becoming a big part of our team with her bubbly infectious personality and humour making her someone who could always bring a smile to your face. I am incredibly grateful to have worked with an incredibly close and supportive team in the store, so when I spoke to them about Sophie's diagnosis they all took it hard and it was a sombre atmosphere within my team. Very quickly, we started talking about what we could do as a team as we wanted to do something for Sophie, and then this fundraiser was born. So many people in the team want to do something to try and help Sophie as a team, so with the support of our Area manager and stores across Area 21 we have decided to have a fundraising week from 27th May until 2nd June where we will raise money which will be used to treat Sophie to something, and also support the Screwfix foundation in Sophie's name.

Across this week Waterlooville will be the focal point of the fundraising with events such as bake sales, fancy dress days etc (more details to come) but the rest of our Area team will be able to take part and support. It will culminate with a big fundraising day instore on 1st June at Waterlooville, which will be supported by people from across the area and there will be a number of special events happening on this day such as Caleb who has been growing his mullet for a long time, will be shaving his head along with Shaun. Andy our area manager will be taking part in something on the day, Robbie will be having his chest waxed and a lot more to be announced as we get closer to the day. I made a personal pledge to the team that I will offer up my Long beard, that has been on my face now for 4 years, to help us raise money and if we hit our target the beard will be going and you'll see a grown man cry.

I just want to end by giving you some information about the Screwfix foundation. The Screwfix Foundation is a registered charity set up in 2013. They are passionate about making a difference to communities across the UK. They are a grant giving charity with a clear purpose to support projects that improve, repair and maintain homes and community facilities used by those in need throughout the UK. As well as helping local charities and not for profit organisations, they also partner with Macmillan Cancer Support, donating funds towards their home improvement programme, which helps people suffering from cancer in financial need with minor home improvements.

We thank you all for your support.