Cardiff Airport is celebrating ten years of fundraising activities, and looking forward to a new year with an exciting new charity partnership.

Over the past ten years, Cardiff Airport has raised over £200,000 to support a number of charities and community clubs close to the hearts of the Airport team, including the RNLI, Welsh Wizards squash team, Marie Curie, Tŷ Hafan and JDRF, the type 1 diabetes charity.

During the past decade, the team has supported charity collections in the terminal, taken part in hiking challenges, hosted lost property raffles and karaoke nights, amongst many other fun and adventurous activities.

Throughout 2019, the Airport has supported a number of charities, raising a total of £11,684 through various events such as the Welsh Three Peaks challenge, sponsored bike rides and bucket collections.

Building on the team’s passion for fundraising, in November last year, Cardiff Airport announced their first Charity of the Year, Velindre Cancer Centre, following an airport-wide vote.

As the nominated Charity of the Year, the Airport team will be building on the success of the past decade and working closely with Velindre to identify fundraising opportunities and organise events. So far, Cardiff Airport has raised over £500 by taking part in a challenging walk along the Wales Coast Path, and is planning its first event of the year, ‘Wear Red for Wales & Velindre’ day on 31st January 2020, where the team will be dressing in red and taking part in a bake-off event to raise vital funds.

Upcoming events in the pipeline include the Cardiff Bay 10k, the Cardiff Triathlon, and even a five-day Great Wall of China trek in May.

Lisa Morgan, Chair of Cardiff Airport’s Charity Committee said,

“It has been fantastic to reflect on an amazing decade of charity support, and the team are excited to kick off the New Year with a charity partnership with Velindre. The charity does such important work for those affected by cancer and we cannot wait to get going with some of the brilliant events that the Charity Committee have planned for the year. Watch this space!”

Miranda Burdett, Wales Regional Fundraiser for JDRF, the type 1 diabetes charity, added

“We have been lucky enough to benefit from Cardiff Airport's Charity Podz fundraising campaign since 2017 and have received over £3,000 in donations from passengers.  We will use this generous donation to support life-changing research into the cure, treatment and prevention of type 1 diabetes. Approximately 18,000 people in Wales are currently living with type 1 diabetes including staff at the airport. Cardiff Airport have given us a wonderful platform to raise awareness of type 1 diabetes and raise vital funds to keep improving lives until we find the cure”.

Andrew Morris Head of Fundraising at Velindre Cancer Centre, said,

“We are absolutely delighted to have been chosen as Cardiff Airport’s charity of the year and cannot thank the team enough for their support.

“The year 2020 is particularly relevant as one in two of us will be affected by cancer, however through better treatments and early detection more people than ever are living with cancer and survival rates have doubled in the last 40 years. The money raised through our partnership with Cardiff Airport will be used to fund things over and above those provided by the NHS, so fundraising really does make a huge difference.”