The UK’s leading marketplace for wholesale home, gift, fashion, and design & source, Spring & Autumn Fair, has outlined a host of community-based and charity initiatives undertaken by the teams who work across both shows to support the retail industry.

With Autumn Fair due to open from the 4th – 7th September at NEC Birmingham bringing together the retail community and providing the platform for business, networking, re-connecting with peers, and inspiration, its organisers Hyve Group plc has revealed some of the behind the scenes work the teams have been involved in.

As its official charity partner, Spring & Autumn Fair has worked with Retail Trust for over a year fundraising and raising awareness of the great work the charity does to support workers in the retail industry. This October, to raise more money, seven Hyve employees will tackle the Three Peaks Challenge, including Divisional Managing Director Julie Driscoll, Head of Global Partnerships Stuart Thomas, and Lucy Green, Charlotte Forshaw, Alex Oxley, Hannah Thomson, and Susannah Griffin from the marketing team. This demanding one-day trekking challenge involves climbing the three highest peaks of Scotland, England and Wales in 24 hours. Snowdon in Wales (1085m), Scafell Pike in England (978m) and Ben Nevis in Scotland (1345m). The total walking distance is 23 miles (37km) and the total ascent is 3064 metres (10,052ft).

Lucy Green, Senior Marketing Manager at Spring & Autumn Fair says; “Spring and Autumn Fair are so proud to support the Retail Trust and to be able to name them as our show charity partner. We want to give back and raise what we can to support this phenomenal charity, which is why we have decided to embark on this challenge as a team. Over the last year, we have partnered with the Retail Trust to provide independent retailers access to free and confidential health and well-being support. Well-being and mental health is the number one priority at Hyve, which is why this partnership means so much to us all. Being able to offer support to our customers is critical. The Retail Trust cares passionately about the health and well-being of everyone in retail. Over the next couple of months, we will be fundraising as much money as possible before we undertake the challenge in October. We would be so grateful for any support you can give; share our posts on social, help spread the word to friends and colleagues about Retail Trust and/ or donate to our GoFundMe page. If you want to donate, please use this link https://gofund.me/b5fa5ef1, or there will be card machines and money buckets at Autumn Fair. We really appreciate all the help we can get!”

Last year alone, 97,863 people accessed the Retail Trust helpline and digital self-help support. They delivered nearly 7,000 counselling sessions and provided £800,000 in financial aid to enable retail colleagues to remain in their own homes, feed their families and improve their quality of life. This is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the help that the Retail Trust do! Visitors to Autumn Fair can also attend the Wellbeing Hour at Autumn Fair on the Inspiring Retail Stage, Tuesday at 3.50pm, for the Retail Trust Flight School with Retail Trust’s Wellbeing Practitioner Andrea Woodside and come away with a plan for having a productive wellbeing conversation with any member of your team currently struggling with their wellbeing. 

In July, members of the Spring & Autumn Fair teams took part in the Cardgains charity walk challenge. Each year, Cardgains chooses a different charity to support and since the first event in 1998, have raised around £350,000 through various events including golf days, bike rides, and major walking challenges. Event Director Daniel Mayhew, as well as Yvette Marshall, Daniel Goodban and Jason Carvey, took part in this year’s 22-mile Ultimate Ullswater event helping to raise thousands of pounds for Alzheimer’s Society.

Autumn Fair is also partnering with the Greetings Card Association (GCA) this season, inviting exhibitors in the Greetings sector and visitors to the show to take part in the Thinking of You Week activity. Thinking of You Week, running this year from 19th – 25th September, sees people across the world send cards to friends, loved ones, work colleagues, neighbours to say hello, thinking of you, share a joke or just to reach out and connect. There is scientific evidence to show that receiving a handwritten card makes people feel much more special than receiving instant social media communication. Greetings card exhibitors including Paper Salad and The Little Dog Laughed have donated cards for a Thinking of You Week Wall in the Greetings sector at Autumn Fair.

Daniel Mayhew, Spring & Autumn Fair’s Event Director says; “Spring & Autumn Fair can often be perceived as big corporate events but there is so much more going on behind the scenes to support the community we are part of. We are incredibly proud to get involved in, as well as initiate, so many worthwhile charity activities, as well as facilitate the drive towards sustainability with our Power of One® campaign.  I’m proud to say that there is a lot of heart on the Spring & Autumn Fair team. These are the actions that make a difference and make our jobs so rewarding.”