Capital Space extends charity of the year support

Capital Space has selected Farleigh as the charity of the year 2021 to allow time to raise even more money to help the hospice continue to provide vital care and support for those affected by life-limiting illness and bereavement in mid Essex.


Waterhouse Business Centre chose Farleigh as its charity of the year in 2020, raising £1000, but due to the coronavirus pandemic was not able to raise as much money as it had hoped to. This year, COVID-19 permitting, Capital Space plans to hold a number of fundraising events for staff and customers and has Farleigh Hospice donation boxes in its offices to encourage anyone visiting them to donate some money towards the cause.


Despite the pandemic still presenting an issue, Waterhouse Business Centre staff and customers have already managed to raise £400 since the beginning of April by holding a socially distanced Easter egg hunt and by holding a raffle to auction off a printer that needed rehoming.

Sharon Dodson, centre manager at Waterhouse Business Centre said: “We felt that we hadn’t really had the chance to raise as much as we had planned to for Farleigh because COVID-19 hit and even though we managed to maintain higher occupancy rates than expected, there were still less people using our business centres which limited our fundraising options. Now that lockdown measures are easing, our occupancy levels are returning to normal, providing more opportunities for us to raise money.

“Farleigh is a cause close to the hearts of many of our staff and customers which is why it was so important for us to make them charity of the year again to give us the chance to raise as much as possible. My aunt was cared for by Farleigh Hospice and more recently, a customer of our Chelmsford centre had a close friend who was cared for by their hospice at home team and received excellent care. The Farleigh care teams are truly phenomenal.

“The past year has been tough for everyone. Many of our customers have suffered losses during this time. We know that Farleigh Hospice has helped a number of them, doing a tremendous job of providing at home care during a time when inpatient hospice care was not an option. I’d like to say a huge thank you to our staff who have all worked so hard throughout the pandemic to offer support and advice to our customers. They remained cheerful and positive throughout for our customers who may have been going through difficult times.”

Customers across all nine Capital Space business centres are consulted on what local charity they would like to see the company support for its charity of the year. Each site then votes and selects its own local charity to support.

Michelle Martin, a corporate fundraiser at Farleigh Hospice said: “We are so grateful to the team at Waterhouse Business Centre for making us charity of the year again for 2021. They did a great job fundraising last year despite the exceptional circumstances. I know that they’ve got a number of events up their sleeve this year to raise even more money, so I hope that the lockdown easing measures continue as planned so all of their events can go ahead.”

Capital Space has nine business centre sites in the South-East including premises in Colchester, Chelmsford, Southend, Loughton and Harlow.

For more information about Capital Space visit www.capitalspace.co.uk

If your company is interested in choosing Farleigh Hospice as your charity of the year please contact Michelle Martin, Farleigh Hospice Corporate Fundraiser on: 01245 457396 or email: Michelle.Martin@farleighhospice.org

Alternatively, visit www.farleighhospice.org/fundraise to find how you can start fundraising for Farleigh Hospice and help support people in our community affected by a life-limiting illness or bereavement.