Clydesdale Bank charity fashion show raises over £2000 for Help the Hospices campaign

15th May 2015

A charity fashion show staged by Clydesdale Bank in Dumfries and Galloway as part of Business Week has raised £2,100 for Hospice UK.

More than 150 local businesswomen attended the glamorous catwalk event at the Cocoabean Company chocolate factory in Twynholm on Thursday 14 May.

Attendees were treated to a chocolate making demonstration by the Cocoabean Company, which supplies chocolate products to upmarket retailers including John Lewis and Harrods, before models strutted their stuff in fashions from Castle Douglas boutique Panache.

The evening raised £2,100 for Hospice UK, including £1,050 in match funding provided by Clydesdale Bank.

Hospice UK is the hospice movement’s national charity and Clydesdale Bank’s charity partner. The Bank has raised over £4 million for Hospice UK since the partnership was launched.

David Hannon, Head of Clydesdale Bank’s Business and Private Banking Centre in Carlisle, which organised the charity fashion show, said:

“Our charity fashion show was a fantastic addition to Business Week. The event enabled us to engage in a fun way with our local businesswomen and raise much needed funds for the Hospice UK campaign.

“We’d like to take this opportunity to thank all who took part in the event and those who dug deep to contribute to a very worthy cause.”

The event was staged as part of Clydesdale Bank’s Business Week which ran from May 11-15 and saw more than 250 customer-focused events take place in the Bank’s UK network of business and private banking centres. Sessions focused on issues including succession planning, managing growth and inspiring the next generation of business leaders.

As part of Business Week Clydesdale Bank has been encouraging SMEs to have a full understanding of their business’ value.

Research commissioned by Bank to launch Business Week suggested that the majority of small and medium-sized businesses in Scotland are underestimating their true worth by not taking into account the value of assets such as trademarks, patents and intellectual property. According to the study, only one in three (34%) Scottish SMEs has ever taken steps to value their non-physical assets.

Clydesdale Bank has strengthened its support for UK SMEs by becoming the first to partner with the British Business Bank under its ENABLE Guarantees scheme. Up to £125m of new lending by Clydesdale Bank, guaranteed by the British Business Bank, will help more small businesses achieve their growth ambitions.