Comic Relief

A seriously funny business

Making a positive difference to our communities is a key value of ours – that’s why we’re committed to sponsoring Comic Relief until 2011, raising money to support some of the most disadvantaged people in communities in the UK and overseas.

Each year, our colleagues channel incredible energy and enthusiasm into Comic Relief. Through sponsored bungee jumps or bathing in baked beans, our colleagues continue to beat fundraising targets every year. Over the years we’ve donated more than £40 million to Comic Relief, making us their largest corporate partner.

Our participation in Red Nose Day on 13th March 2009 saw customers and colleagues help us donate £11 million to Comic Relief, an increase of 45 per cent over the previous event.

June 2009

Transcript of the first video

F1: I did realise that there was poverty. Obviously you see it on the TV screens, but to actually come here and see just how bad it was, I have to say, it was quite saddening. It did make quite a deep impact on me, actually.

F2: On this farm we have struggled for three years to get the farmer to pay the minimum wage. Now we are still struggling in terms of the housing.

M1: In the winter, water comes through the roof. It makes ice on the floor.

M2: How many years have you lived here?

M1/F3: Eight years.

F2: He is staying here alone here now. His wife passed away last year. Three people died. A baby passed away, and we think it’s about the circumstances in like, the roof, it’s like asbestos, which is illegal, you know you’re not supposed to live under asbestos.

M1: My baby and my wife were here on the floor, dead.

M3: The baby was dead on the floor?

M1: On the bed there, my baby, and her mother dead on the floor.

M3: She’s dead on the floor? And what does he wish for?

M1: A better life for the family I still have.

M3: It was a pigsty he was living in. There was asbestos around. The smell in there – the smell of smoke, the smell of dust, it really did get to the back of your throat, and that’s just to go in there for five minutes. And to live in there for eight years, I’m really surprised that he’s still alive.

M4: It’s like – you know, he’d got a few photos of his kid. And I’ve shown him my kid, and you know, we’re worlds apart from it, and... I don’t want to talk about it...

M3: When we were coming back to the hotel in Johannesburg, and there was this little shanty town with lots of huts and everything, and we got out and we had a look, and there was children playing in what can only be described as rubbish. Dangerous – glass – rotting – there was dead rats everywhere, and there were small children playing in that, and the conditions that they live in, it was indescribable, it was really like, emotions were going, it was how could people let people live like that? It’s not right.

Since 1985, Comic Relief has donated over £19 million to combat these problems in South Africa.

M3: Today we’ve seen the Before and After and what actually can happen when places that Comic Relief funds happens, and we’ve seen them before, and now they’ve all got their own land, electricity, water. Although, yes, it’s not great, it is a million times better. These people have got a chance, whereas they had nothing, they actually have a chance now.

M4: It’s a real [inaudible 00:03:02] to see the conditions where Comic Relief haven’t been able to touch yet, but it’s great to see that they will get there some time.

M3: If everybody plays their part. If every single colleague gets behind and raises as much as they can, we can make such a difference. Through Comic Relief we’re giving people a future.

Transcript of the second video

Money raised by Comic Relief also goes to help projects in the UK, like this one supporting young carers.

F1: Mummy, Daddy, me. [counting mugs out of a cupboard]

F1: Here we go. And put your legs on.

F2: And are we going out?

F1: Well, we do need to get some food later.

M1: This is Elsa. She’s eleven. Her mum has a muscle wasting condition, and finds walking really hard.

F1: There, is that comfortable?

M1: Her dad had meningitis and now has a weak heart and lungs.

F1: My worries really for my parents are that I know they’re not going to last as long as most parents are going to, and when they’re gone, I’m going to be on my own.

M2: She gets a bit depressed at times. I think she’s frustrated because we aren’t the same as other parents and she knows that.

F2: I wish I could do things with her, and it can be quite upsetting at times.

F1: I feel that I need to take a break from all this, and I feel angry that taking a break is not an option.

M1: A trip on a train and a walk in the woods is just what these kids need – a carefree day with other children who understand just how they feel.

F1: It was brilliant having my head stuck out the window of the train, because it was really fun feeling the wind in my hair.