Double donation helps car supermarket chairman mark his two unforgettable days

• Trade Centre Wales’ chairman Mark Bailey donates £60,000 to Childline’s One Unforgettable Day initiative

• The scheme involves a donation to the counselling service based around a special day to the individual charity supporter

• Childline was launched by Dame Esther Rantzen in 1986 and joined the NSPCC in 2006

• Thursday 19^th July

THE chairman of Wales’ largest used car supermarket has helped Childline to stay in pole position by donating to the counselling service’s One Unforgettable Day initiative.

It involves a donation of £30,000 to the NSPCC-supported service, which equates to the cost of running Childline for one day across the UK.

With around 800 children and young people on average contacting Childline daily for one-on-one counselling sessions, the donations from One Unforgettable Day will help those who require the service as well as supporting the volunteers and staff at the other end of the phone line or online chat.

Mark Bailey, the founder of Trade Centre Wales, has donated £60,000 to Childline through One Unforgettable Day, supporting two days based on dates that are memorable for his business – 9^th April and 2^nd July.

Mark said: “The NSPCC is an inspirational charity that works tirelessly to protect children in all that they do.

“The NSPCC is a cause that is close to our heart here at The Trade Centre Wales, and we have been working continuously over the past few years to support as much as we can.

“In the last year alone, we have helped to raise over £100,000 and we don’t plan to stop any time soon.

“The Trade Centre Wales has experienced rapid growth in a really short space of time due to us expanding into new territory.

“The reason that these months are so unforgettable for us was because July was the month in which our Abercynon branch opened, and April saw us open our Wednesbury branch.

“We’re so pleased to be able to expand across the UK and grow, not only does this mean that we have a greater presence across the UK, but it also means that we are able to increase the support to the NSPCC and Childline along the way

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“As we move into new regions outside of Wales we want to ensure our values remain.

“We are committed to our work with charitable causes, both locally and nationally and initiatives like these need all the support they can get.

“Childline’s ‘One Unforgettable Day’ does amazing work for the NSPCC, helping fight for safer childhoods, something that we at Trade Centre Wales are passionate about.

“We are so proud to be a part of something so special.”

Mark has supported the NSPCC and Childline for the past 10 years, trekking to Machu Picchu in Peru in 2009 and raising £50,000.

Since then, he has undertaken other fundraising initiatives for the charity,  including sponsoring Sir Ian Botham’s ‘Beefy’s Welsh Walk’ in 2014 and engaging the customers and staff team at Trade Centre Wales with fundraising each year.

For the last five years, Trade Centre Wales has run an autumn campaign, where they have donated to the NSPCC for every car sold in the month of September.

This has resulted in substantial sums donated each year in support of the charities work in Wales.

In 2016, Mark and his wife Rhianon were part of the 30^th year celebrations of Childline and one year later, became involved in the One Forgettable Day project.

They chose to sponsor 2^nd July, which marks the anniversary of the opening of their flagship site in Wales – Cardiff North/Abercynon – the third branch for Trade Centre Wales, adding to showrooms in Merthyr Tyfdil and Neath.

Moving into England, Trade Centre UK selected a day earlier this year, on 9^th April which marked the one year anniversary of opening their site in Wednesbury, West Midlands.

Patrick Weaver, the NSPCC’s head of community and events, said: “Childline is an incredibly vital service for children and young people in Wales and beyond and it is there for those who need it 24/7, 365 days a year.

“On average, a child contacts Childline every 25 seconds and these donations from Mark will help fund the service across the UK for two days.

“One donation will help the service provide 800 counselling sessions for children and young people in need, so the second contribution will allow Childline to help even more youngsters.

“Without the help of supporters like Mark, his staff, and customers, Childline simply would not be able to function. We thank him for his support of this valuable service for some of the most vulnerable in society.

“There is a growing demand from children seeking help and so it’s crucial we are able to fund this lifeline properly.

“All donations mean crucial phone calls or online chats are answered, leading to a brighter future for a young person who is currently forced to suffer in silence.”

To find out more or to donate, visit www.nspcc.org.uk/what-you-can-do/make-a-donation.

Children wanting to speak to a counsellor can reach Childline for free and in confidence, open 24/7 on 0800 1111 or at www.childline.org.uk