Yorkshire Property Charity Lunch raises £54,000
More than 530 members of the industry gathered in Leeds to raise money for children’s cancer charity Candlelighters and its own trust.
Now in its 21st year, the lunch was held at the First Direct Arena and raised £53,620.
Prior to the lunch, the annual football match was held at The John Charles Centre for Sport and an inaugural netball match was played at The Edge, at the University of Leeds.
Both matches saw property professionals taking on property agents, with the agents winning the football and the professionals triumphing in the netball.
After the lunch, charity fundraiser and Leeds Rhinos legend Kevin Sinfield was given a hero’s welcome when he took to the stage as guest speaker.
Sinfield also participated in a Q&A session with the audience and spoke about his great friend and former teammate, the late Rob Burrow, before discussing the highs and lows of his gruelling endurance challenges that have raised over £10m for motor neurone disease charities.
During the afternoon, four prizes were auctioned by James Pank from Auction House raising £6,750, and a raffle and not-so-silent auction both added to the fundraising total.
Sponsors of this year’s Yorkshire Property Charity Lunch included Towngate, Chameleon Business Interiors, Blacks, Walker Morris, Wainwrights, Xenon, Glenbrook, Citipark, Firecrest Construction, First Direct Bank Arena and Sterling Event Group.
Matthew Wright from The Yorkshire Property Charitable Trust, said: “This was undoubtedly one of the best property lunches in our 21-year history.
“The football match was as popular as ever and the netball was a great success that also attracted lots of spectators.
“Then, to welcome Kevin Sinfield as a guest speaker after the lunch was a huge privilege. He had an unbelievable sporting career; he’s a recognised leader and now he’s the ultimate fundraiser.
“When he spoke there was absolute silence, because everyone was fascinated by what he had to say. His stories went from laughing at dressing room pranks to the emotion of hearing him talk about Rob Burrow.
“There’s no doubt he inspired our audience to give so generously and yet again we’re blown away by the amount of money we raised and the kind-heartedness of the local property community.
“This money will make a genuine difference to both Yorkshire children battling cancer, as well as their families, and a whole host of other local causes and charities.
“Anyone working in the property industry can apply for funding from The Yorkshire Property
Charitable Trust and we’re looking forward to supporting lots of worthy causes over the
coming months.”
Each year, more than 150 children in Yorkshire are diagnosed with cancer, and Candlelighters offers support to both the children and their families throughout the entire journey, by providing emotional, practical and financial support, as well as bringing hope by investing in vital research to improve the outcomes and lives of children with cancer.
