One Great Day is a UK-wide annual fund-raiser day held in shopping centres across the country. To raise money and support for Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity and also one local children’s charity. Middleton Shopping Centre chose to partner with Francis House Children’s Hospice, a charity that provides appropriate respite and end of life care for children and young people with life limiting illnesses, giving them the care they need and short-term support for their families.
The event, held on Saturday 30th July, was a huge success with the centre visitors ensuring it truly was ‘One Great Day’, visiting the launch of the centre’s Summer Space Camp and embracing all the activities on offer.
Retailers and visitors offered their unreserved support with Café Zhino donating 200 ‘intergalactic space’ themed cupcakes which visitors, retailers, and centre staff were able to purchase for a donation. This generous gift was a huge contribution to the £500 raised on the day for the chosen charities. All proceeds made during the day were split between http://www.gosh.nhs.uk and https://www.francishouse.org.uk .
Families attending the event had an ‘out of this world’ experience with face painting, astronomical fun at the centre’s space play park, and solar system craft mobile decorating. Mini astronauts visited the Space Trail with QR codes located around the centre, where educational points of information could be found. There were also plenty of selfie opportunities at the space mission control and an interactive space centre. The extra-terrestrials really didn’t want to ‘go home’, however they can return again for some cosmic fun as the space play park remains open every day until 30th August 2022.
In addition, the centre launched their very own rocket. The rocket was built in celebration of the 50th anniversary of Middleton Shopping Centre. A local tradesman was commissioned to build the craft and children from the area were invited to design it with a local artist recreating the winning designs. The rocket has taken pride of place on a rotating plinth to showcase each winning design, and has been named ‘Fortis in Arduis’ which translates to ‘strong in difficulties’ which is a great reflection of the strength shown by the community over the last few years. The motto also forms part of the Middleton Coat of Arms.
Marie Gribben, Centre Manager commented, “I always like to ensure that One Great Day is an extra special occasion within our centre, it’s a wonderful concept and one that is close to my heart. I’d like to extend my thanks to all our visitors and retailers who contributed to make it a great success, especially to Café Zhino for our wonderful free cupcakes, a massive thank to you too. Our support of this campaign has always been encouraged by Ellandi, the owners of the centre, who support One Great Day across their retail portfolio as part of their focus on social values.”
Marie added, “A huge thanks also to the centre staff and ASG teams for their outstanding contribution on the day. Especially to Angela Marcroft, ASG Cleaning Supervisor (our friendly alien) and Elizabeth Williams, ASG Cleaning Operative, for their assistance, and invaluable help throughout the day. Last but by no means least a big thank to ASG for their very much appreciated donation which has further boosted the funds raised.”
Ilyas Aslam, ASG Site Manager, reflected on the day, “This was a very special occasion and it demonstrated just why Middleton is such a great place to work and visit, it is all about the people. A really amazing team effort helped raised much needed funds for two very important charities and everybody had a great time doing it. Retailers, visitors and our own ASG teams really revelled in the event, making it a joy to be part of, it truly was ‘One Great Day’. Well done to all involved.”