Bathshack donates £13K to Women’s Aid after year of fundraising

Bathshack has raised a total of £13,751 for local domestic abuse charity, Women’s Aid – our official charity for 2023. The money will subsequently be split between Women’s Aid Federation NI and their sister branch in the ROI.

Pictured (L-R) are Sarah Mason, CEO of Women’s Aid Federation NI; Karen Devlin, Membership services and Support at Women’s Aid NI; Julie Mills, Bathshack Wellbeing & Corporate Social Responsibility Team Member and Social Media Executive; Tubs the Duck, Bathshack’s mascot.

The final amount is the result of a year of fundraising events organised by the Bathshack employees last year. These included a Charity Golf Day at Greenacres Golf Club in Ballyclare which raised £10,506 and an Ice Bath Challenge involving Bathshack’s managing director and managers, which brought in more than £2,000. Other activities throughout the year included a sweep stakes, a Bake Challenge and a Wear Purple Day where employees wore purple, the official Women’s Aid colour, to raise money and awareness of the charity.

Bathshack organised a Charity Golf Day to fundraise for Women’s Aid in 2023.

Richard Murphy, Bathsahck Telesales Manager, pictured at the Bake Sale for Women’s Aid.

Additional events saw a ‘Royal Flush’ fundraiser, guessing the number of rubber ducks in a bath, a sponsored walk up Slieve Donard, a Christmas hamper raffle and Christmas Jumper Day.

Managing Director, Peter Dunlop, said: “We’re delighted to have been able to raise over £13,000 for Women’s Aid, which does vital work in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland to help those affected by domestic abuse.

“I want to thank everyone who contributed to raising this amazing amount of money – including all our employees who organised fundraising events throughout the year and the members of the public who supported our efforts. We had everything from a Charity Golf Day and an Ice Bath Challenge to a Bake Sale, sponsored walk and Christmas Jumper Day.”

Sarah Mason, CEO of Women’s Aid Federation NI, added: “On behalf of Women’s Aid Federation we cannot thank all the staff and supporters of Bathshack enough for all their amazing support over the past year. This is truly an amazing total, and it will help us continue to make our society safer for women, children and young people affected by domestic abuse.”

Women’s Aid is Northern Ireland’s lead voluntary organisation in tackling domestic abuse and provides vital support for women, children and young people who are affected by this. There are eight local Women’s Aid groups in total, all of which come under the Women’s Aid Federation umbrella. The money raised by Bathshack will help to support the charity’s ongoing work, funding on-the-ground support to directly help those impacted by domestic abuse. This includes giving a voice to survivors of domestic abuse, as well as delivering trauma support services, educating the public and monitoring and responding to government policies and legislation.

Pictured after the Ice Bath Challenge are the Bathshack team (L-R): Tubs the duck, Salli Hunt, Lorraine Kelly, Ryan Dunlop, Peter Dunlop, Connor Dunlop, Matthew McCallum, Chris McKee, Mark Smyth, Katherine Heasley, and Karen Devlin (Women’s Aid NI).

Bathshack’s 2024 charity partner

Having handed over the cheque to Women’s Aid, the Bathshack team is now setting its sights on raising funds for this year’s nominated charity – Macmillan Cancer Support.

“Having raised such a fantastic amount in 2023 for our charity of the year, we’re now hoping to do the same this year for our 2024 charity – which I’m delighted to announce is Macmillan Cancer Support,” said Peter.

“This is another very worthwhile organisation which directly supports people living with cancer as well as doing fundraising, research and advocating, amongst many other things. I hope everyone gets behind us again to raise as much as we can to support their work in the coming months.”

Joanne Young, Senior Relationship Fundraising Manager at Macmillan NI, added: “We are absolutely delighted to have been chosen by Bathshack as their charity partner. Through an exciting programme of fundraising activities and awareness-raising, together we will make a real difference for local people who are living with cancer – and we can’t wait to get started.”

Macmillan Cancer Support provides support to people living with cancer in a variety of ways, including fundraising, advocacy and research, along with emotional, practical, physical and financial services. They also support healthcare professionals through training and offer up-to-date tools and resources to help them care for people living with cancer.