Community News

Operating at the heart of our communities

A look back on 2022.

Our communities really are at the heart of what we do here at Grand Central. We take pride in supporting the communities we serve. During 2022 we worked with many of our long standing community partners and even developed a few new ones. Here is a snapshot of some of the community engagement activities that took place last year.

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Sunderland Pride

Last year we joined up with Sunderland Pride for the first time. A team of Grand Central colleagues turned up to support the event and engage with the local community of Sunderland. The event was such a success that we hope to continue our work with them this year. Huge thanks to all the volunteers who gave up their time to come and support.

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Herriot Country Event at Kings Cross and Herriot Flavours Awards

After a long break due to covid restrictions, it was great to see our friends from Herriot Country back in Kings Cross, to promote all things Herriot. Customers were invited to sample local produce, from chocolate to beer and even gin! We were also proud to sponsor their Flavours Awards where we sponsored Customer Service Team of the Year award.

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Knaresborough Bed Race

The Great Knaresborough Bed Race is something different: it is part fancy dress pageant and part gruelling time trial over a 2.4 mile course, ending with a swim through the icy waters of the River Nidd.

First staged in 1966, Bed Race has spawned other similar events in the USA, Germany, New Zealand and elsewhere in the UK. It is great fun, an amazing spectacle and, being held in Yorkshire, a truly serious competitive effort, pitting teams against their fiercest rivals, their erstwhile friends or even against themselves.

In 2022 we sponsored a local scout team to take part in the event. The team completed the race with a very respectable time of 19.18 minutes in 40^th place

The event has raised over £80,000 for charity since starting out in 1966.