As you may have heard, in 2024 we are celebrating our 25th year in business and wanted to give a little something back. So, we decided it would be a nice idea to complete 25 acts of kindness for local charities and organisations close to our hearts. All the teams across The Somerset Toiletry Co. including our head office, warehouse, The Soap Bar Café and our soap factory will be taking part. We plan to document our journey throughout the year so please revisit this blog for updates. Our progress so far includes:
1. Dog Walking with Mutts with Friends
In January Lisa started walking rescue dogs for Mutts with Friends, a non-profit dog rescue operating in the Chew valley and surrounding areas of Bristol and Bath.
“A lovely feel-good thing to do, meet nice people, get fresh air and exercise all whilst taking in the incredible views over the lakes, I’m hooked!” Lisa Moon, Marketing Manager
Mutts have helped save the lives of hundreds of unwanted and abandoned dogs through rehabilitation and rehoming. They are always on the hunt for volunteers, foster homes and dog walkers. As they rely on volunteers and donations, please visit their website or Facebook page and help us spread the word!
2. Prickles Hedgehogs Rescue Fundraiser
During February half term The Soap Bar Café held a fundraiser for Prickles Hedgehog Rescue centre in Cheddar. Run by volunteers, Prickles cares for poorly, injured or orphaned hedgehogs and to date they have released over 4,000 back to the wild!
Delicious cupcakes, baked by Jaz were sold with all the proceeds going towards the vital work the rescue provide. A great way to raise awareness of these endangered species, including the raffle, the event raised £282 in total.
3. Donations to Bristol charities
In February Brett, Zantore and Daisy headed into Bristol to donate toiletries to three local charities;
Based in Bedminster, Bristol’s Help The Homeless’ mission is to provide temporary accommodation and support services for people who are homeless while also working to address the root causes of homelessness in Bristol. The iconic Help Bristol’s Homeless Village, features converted shipping containers that offer safe and secure accommodations for those who are sleeping rough.
All over the world, The Salvation Army offer a range of services to help those experiencing homelessness, supporting people out of rough sleeping and helping them move into safety and accommodation. They provide drop-in services, hot food and essential supplies alongside providing shelter for those in need.
Aid Box Community (ABC) is a Bristol-based humanitarian organisation set up by a group of ordinary people in response to the continuing refugee crisis. They support asylum seekers and refugees with a free shop and welcome hub, activity groups, signposting advice, a crisis fund and a befriending service.
4. Lizzies Soup Run
At the end of February our incredible baker Jaz from our Soap Bar Café, cooked up 45 hot meals for Lizzie’s Soup Run. Lisa then delivered deliciously hot Macaroni Cheese to some very grateful people on the streets of Bath.
A lovely lady called Liz Davis from Midsomer Norton set up the scheme up during lockdown to support vulnerable people in Bath. It initially started with Liz popping into town each week with family and friends to hand out sandwiches and hot drinks. Now the scheme has over 2,000 supporters and a team of volunteers (on a rota) who distribute food and supplies including warm clothing, toiletries, vouchers, plus Billy Chips and dog food each week. The initiative is run purely on donations and fundraising so please get in touch if you would like to be involved.
5. Anti Banquet Charity Dinner
In February, Sakina attended the Anti Banquet Charity Dinner with our good friends from BillyChip. The evening included music, entertainment and food prepared by a range of fabulous chefs, raising over £100k for food initiatives and charities in Bristol. Sakina thoroughly enjoyed the auction, ‘winning’ various prizes – you might even spot a few new bits of art popping up around our HQ!
6. Temple Cloud Cricket Team Kit Sponsor
This year, The Soap Bar Café, located at our headquarters in Clutton, is sponsoring the Temple Cloud Cricket Team‘s Under 11s and Under 13s kits. We take great pride in supporting local sports teams, promoting outdoor activities for children, fostering skill development, and encouraging a healthy dose of fresh air!
7. Soap Donations in Bath
In May, Lisa and Daisy spent a morning delivering hundreds of soaps to some incredible organisations in the beautiful city of Bath, including AWP, Julian House, Genesis Trust Food Bank and Youth connect.
Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust (AWP) is the lead provider of healthcare for people with serious mental illness, learning disabilities and autism across Bath and North East Somerset (BaNES).
Julian House provides life changing support to those trying to move away from homelessness, domestic abuse, addiction recovery, mental health issues and long term unemployment in the South West.
Genesis Trust Food Bank feeds hungry individuals and families with emergency food parcels and signposts them to other agencies to get further support. All the supplies are kindly donated by the public, businesses and organisations, and a team of volunteers help to deliver this service.
Youth Connect Southwest are an independent non-profit charity dedicated to supporting young people in Bath, North East Somerset and beyond. The organisation offers a wide range of opportunities for young people aged 11-25 to help them thrive.
8. Helping on an Alpaca Farm
Recently, some of the STC team visited Cadbury Alpacas, an ethical farm near Bristol. Despite the wet and windy weather, we had a blast helping this lovely local business build a round house for their beautiful alpacas. They produce beautiful, locally made items and you can even book an Alpaca experience, go check them out!
9. Ride The Night – London
Sakina and a lovely bunch of ladies including BillyChip’s Sarah, Nikki and Abz joined over 1,000 women to ride 50 kilometres through the streets of London at night in May. Together they raised over £1,000 for various cancer charities. Thank you to everyone who made a donation.
10. Purpl Disabled Discount
As part of our 25 acts of kindness in 2024, we’re excited to announce a new partnership with Purpl! Founder Georgina (pictured below) has launched a new initiative to gather discount for the disabled community. Also, Purpl is dedicated to making a positive impact by contributing a portion of it’s revenue to disabled charities. We’re thrilled to support this fantastic cause, so please share with anyone you know who might benefit.
11. Chew Valley 10k
At the start of June, Lisa, Lisa, Daisy, and David ran the Chew Valley 10k to raise money for BillyChip. BillyChip is a charity very close to our hearts at The Somerset Toiletry Company. We love to support them in any way we can, including giving them an office space at our HQ in Clutton. They have managed to raise £700 between them for this amazing charity!
12. Beach Clean Up
For our twelfth act of kindness, some of the team took to the shores of Weston-Super-Mare for a beach clean up alongside Visit Somerset and The Grand Pier. We spent the morning clearing litter to help preserve this beautiful coastline and we were thrilled to see the community come together for a cleaner, safer environment.
13. Ruth Strauss Foundation
We recently created a Limited Edition Soap Bar for the players taking part in Rock for Ruth. This is a fundraising event arranged by the Ruth Strauss Foundation. This charity was set up by Andrew Strauss, Ruth’s husband, to provide emotional support for families to prepare for the death of a parent and to raise awareness of the need for more research & collaboration in the fight against non-smoking lung cancers.
On the 11th of July, Zantore, Brett, Sakina, and Xavier also visited the Red for Ruth event at Lords Cricket Ground to help fundraise for the Ruth Strauss Foundation. A grand total of £311,000 was raised during this event!
14. Charity Skydive
Daisy, Xavier, Alex & Vix took the plunge in a charity skydive for four amazing charities, and raised a huge total of over £2600. These charities are Time is Precious, Throat Cancer Foundation, Alzheimers Research UK, and Headway.
15. Clutton Flower Show
We are proud to support local organisations and community events, so this year once again we have sponsored the Clutton Flower Show, a fantastic event for all the family. Organised by the Clutton Horticultural Society it includes plant stalls, a dog show, classic vehicles, Morris dancing and everything else you might expect at a quintessential British village show.
Some more exciting things in the pipeline include charity soaps, so please watch this space!
16. Team Walk
In September, the team had a lovely afternoon with Mutts with Friends and their gorgeous four-legged friends. We walked 7km around Chew Valley to raise awareness for Zyron and Koby, as they are still looking for their forever homes.
This amazing local dog rescue has rehomed hundreds of dogs over the years and provided a home for so many in need! The rescue relies on donations and support by volunteers, so please give them a follow if you'd like to help!
17. SWALLOW Charity Soap
We are so excited to announce our soap collaboration with SWALLOW Charity.
The soap features lavender and chamomile and the packaging has been designed by a member of the art group! She created the eye-catching bee design in response to thinking about the ingredients of the soap.
These sustainable soaps, lovingly made in Somerset will be available to purchase from our cafe and online (and also from SWALLOW) for £6.95. Please note £5 from every bar will be donated directly to this incredible local organisation, that enables teenagers and adults with learning disabilities to live independently.
18. Breast Cancer Now Fundraiser
On October 18th, we hosted a 'Wear it Pink' fundraiser in The Soap Bar Cafe in support of Breast Cancer Awareness. Jaz, our amazing baker, made and decorated beautiful pink cupcakes, with £2 from each sale going directly to the cause. Generous donations from both customers and staff helped us boost our contributions. Our office and cafe teams joined in the spirit by dressing in pink to show their support.
Thanks to everyone’s incredible generosity, we raised £130 for Breast Cancer Now!
19. St Peters Hospice Raffle
Zantore delivered a special hamper of goodies to St Peters Hospice in Bristol, ready for their Christmas raffle. St Peter's Hospice are a local charity that provides care and support to adults who are living with a progressive life-limiting illness in the Bristol, South Gloucestershire and North Somerset area.
20. Diabetes Raffle
For number 20 of our ‘25 for 25’ we are currently raising money for the Diabetes UK Mendip Support Group, who enable children and young adults to spend time with each other and providing a support network for parents.
We raised an amazing £85 for the support group!
21. BillyChip X Inkie Charity Soap
We have collaborated with BillyChip and world-renowned graffiti artist INKIE to create a run of limited edition soap, designed by the man himself!
We have hidden golden tickets inside a handful of bars to be redeemed for a signed INKIE print worth £100!
All proceeds go to BillyChip, and for every bar sold, BillyChip will donate a chip to an outreach service to hand out to somebody experiencing homelessness this winter.
22. Community hamper
Sakina and Sarah (BillyChip) donated 1,000 soaps to Operation Community Hamper CIO. The charity work tirelessly all year to provide special moments for local families in need.
After noticing an excessive number of families using food banks in 2020, OCH founder Charlotte Churchill decided she wanted to do something special. They now create hampers for vulnerable families that contain luxuries that they wouldn’t find in a food bank to bring some festive cheer.
23. Movember
David, Jon (BillyChip), Zantore and Xavier grew moustaches in memory of The Somerset Toiletry Company's late co-founder, Roger Buoy, and his famous moustache.
They raised a huge £865 for the Throat Cancer Foundation, who aim to raise awareness of cancers that affect the head, chest, mouth and neck, and to prevent future cases by funding research.
24. Carnival Collection
Daisy attended Shepton Mallet Carnival to help coin collect for Time is Precious. She helped them collect an amazing £1084 for the charity that will be used to help create a more comfortable and relaxed atmosphere for children and their families in hospital or at home.
25. Christmas Jumper Day
For our final charity event this year, everyone at The Somerset Toiletry Company Office and Warehouse took part in Christmas Jumper day. We raised £85 for Prickles Hedgehog Rescue Centre in Cheddar. Run by volunteers, Prickles cares for poorly, injured or orphaned hedgehogs and to date they have released over 4,000 back to the wild!
Thank you to everyone who has supported us this year, and contributed towards our 25 charity events! It's been a busy, but extremely rewarding year, and we're so proud of the money raised for all these amazing charities!