Retail Trust charity ball raises over £1 million
31 January 2012 10:46
Charity Retail Trust has said that its London ball has raised over £1 million for retailers in need.
The guest list for last night's event included high street and etail leading lights such as Arcadia Group owner Sir Philip Green, M&S CEO Marc Bolland, ASOS CEO Nick Robertson, Jaeger chairman Harold Tillman, Debenhams CEO Michael Sharp, and chief executive of Harvey Nichols, Joseph Wan.
The sum raised at the retail industry's annual fundraiser, held at Grosvenor House, came from a blend of personal pledges including £190,000 from Sir Philip Green and corporate contributions from major highstreet brands including Sir Philip's Arcadia chain, which donated £100,000.
Retail Trust's CEO, Nigel Rothband, said: "Tough times are well documented for retail, but I am delighted that our annual fundraising ball still brought the biggest names in the sector together to support their industry charity. We are grateful to all the retailers and supporters for their contributions that will benefit those in retail who are most affected by change, pressures of life and a need to turn somewhere for advice.
"We have seen contacts to our Helpline rise significantly in the last six months, not only on matters of redundancy and job security, but on a host of associated issues that come to the fore when recession is in play. Finance and relationship issues, instances of workplace bullying, and as the riots highlighted, threats of violence against those who man the shops we rely on day in day out.
"I would like to thank especially the Khurmy family from Ealing who joined us on stage this year to share their experiences as riot affected retailers, and to highlight how Retail Trust is there to help those in need of help in many different ways."
Retail Trust can be contacted via the helpline number 0808 801 0808, by texting HELPLINE to 88010, or by accessing the newly launched 'Helpline Online' section of the website (www.retailtrust.org.uk/help) for answers to most often searched help topics and responses.
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