Food firm offers cash aid to community groups

* Harlech Foodservice Managing Director David Cattrall. Picture by Rick Matthews.

Community groups and local clubs across North Wales are being urged to bid for a slice of a new £5,000 charity fund.

Leading food wholesaler Harlech Foodservice, which has bases in Criccieth in Gwynedd and Chester, has launched a community foundation as part of the company’s 50^th anniversary celebrations.

The family firm was founded in 1972 as a holiday season supplier to pubs, hotels and campsites in North West Wales and has grown into a £30 million turnover business serving Wales, the North West and West Midlands.

Now Managing Director David Cattrall is inviting community groups, projects, associations and locally based charities to pitch for some cash.

He said: “We have grown from small beginnings into a major North Wales company with bases in Criccieth and Chester and we couldn’t have done that without the support of our loyal customers across the region.

“They have helped us grow into a business employing over 200 staff which supplies not just the tourism and hospitality industry but also schools, colleges, hospitals and care homes so we want to celebrate the success we’ve had by putting something back into the communities which have supported us

“We are asking local groups across North Wales who benefit the community in some way to come forward and pitch for funding which could provide them with some vital cash for something really important to them.

“It could be a mini bus fund for a local dance troupe or maybe some gardening equipment for a primary school, a new pool table for a youth club or art and craft equipment for a pensioners’ group which prevents older people feeling isolated and lonely.

“We are open to suggestions and the main criteria is that people need to show us how they are fundraising and how much they are aiming to raise.

“We are looking to give a helping hand to projects right across the region so we want to hear from the people involved and we’ll be looking to hand over up to £1,000 to the chosen deserving causes.”

Harlech Foodservices has a track record of helping out in the communities it serves and stepped up in the pandemic to make donations to food banks across Wales and into Cheshire and Shropshire.

When their delivery lorries were unable to carry stock to their usual customers they were diverted to charities from Conwy to Newport in Gwent and from their own doorstep in Pwllheli to Northwich and Telford across the English border.

Now as business reaches a peak in the busy holiday season they are looking to hear from deserving causes who can bid for a share of the £5,000 charity by sending a brief description of their organisation, what they are raising money for and what they are looking to achieve along with daytime contact details including a phone number. Bid descriptions should be sent to sales@harlech.lls.com

The business founded by Colin and Gill Foskett above a shop in Harlech in 1972 now delivers up to 5,000 product lines to cafés, restaurants, pubs and public sector customers across North and Mid-Wales, Shropshire, the Midlands and the North West from its modern bases in Criccieth and Chester.

Colin and Gill’s sons and daughter are still on the board and the third generation of the Foskett family are now among a workforce which has grown steadily as the business has expanded to include NHS Wales, care homes and schools, colleges and universities.

For more on Harlech Foodservices go to https://www.harlech.co.uk/