Irwin Mitchell Raises £7,000 For Charity Of The Year

Bristol Autism Support (BAS) is set to benefit from a record £7,000 donation from Irwin Mitchell, after staff at the firm’s office in the city spent all of last year raising funds for the organisation.

BAS was nominated by staff at the office to be their Charity of the Year for 2016 as part of a nationwide initiative developed by the Irwin Mitchell Charities Foundation. 

Established in 1997, IMCF is an independent registered charity set up by the firm which has donated more than £1.5 million to third sector organisations. A record £163,000 was raised in total across the law firm’s offices in 2016, with the £7,000 for BAS also being a record for the Bristol office.

BAS was established to provide support to families affected by autism in Bristol, as well as the surrounding areas of North Somerset and South Gloucester. Its aim is to bring parents and carers together to share their experiences and knowledge of the condition.

Jonathan Peacock, Regional Managing Partner at Irwin Mitchell’s Bristol office, said: “We are delighted to be able to provide this record donation to a truly fantastic cause in our local community.

“Our Charity of the Year initiative is something that all of our employees are very passionate about, with everyone pitching in to raise funds in a variety of ways across 2016 to ensure we can provide quality support to this charity.

“Last year was a record-breaking one in terms of our fundraising work and we are very proud to be able to give back to the local communities where we work in this manner.”

The funds raised for BAS will help the organisation to further develop its plan to provide one-to-one support for parents and carers of autistic children. The donation will specifically go towards funding both training and the creation of training sessions, venue hire and new materials to provide information on the services available to them.

Kate Laine-Toner, Chief Executive of BAS, said: “We are hugely grateful to everyone at Irwin Mitchell’s Bristol office for this fantastic donation which will allow us to make a huge difference to a lot of people’s lives.

“Working with the firm across 2016 has been an absolute pleasure and we truly appreciate the hard work and effort which has gone into raising these vital funds.”