The Plymouth Junior Lawyers Division
The Plymouth Junior Lawyers Division is a network of young legal professionals who offer support to each other and promote the values and benefits of the legal profession in the city, by arranging networking and social events, and fundraising for their chosen charity of the year.
The 2015-2016 committee year, saw the efforts of the team from law firms across Plymouth raising much needed funds for the neonatal death and early life loss charity, The Snowdrop Appeal, in their bid to develop the bereavement suite at Derriford Hospital.
The young lawyers have taken a new innovative approach to fundraising, not seen in previous committee years, successfully raising the profile of the committee and most importantly, of The Snowdrop Appeal.
The twelve strong team first hosted the ever popular charity quiz at the Treasury, setting them in good stead to beat their earlier fundraising targets. The Plymouth community then saw the launch of their first charity fun day, a Mad Hatters Tea Party at Albion Rugby Club. This saw 1300 people from the local community coming together to help Greg and Jen Phillips, the founders of the Snowdrop Appeal, reach their goal. Helena Campbell of Wolferstans Solicitors was nominated as the Charities Secretary for the committee and says “being able to bring the community together for a sole cause by arranging such a fun and different event was incredibly rewarding, and something we hope to repeat in future years. Greg and Jen are an inspiring couple and it was a pleasure to work alongside them and raise funds and help them to reach their goal”.
The committee then wowed the crowds by hosting a Great Gatsby Summer Soiree at The Loft, a night of glam and glitz, with performances from Some Like It Hot and Mad About Swing to really get the party started, with magicians and gambling tables throughout the night. The group also arranged a number of networking events and saw the first business breakfast held at Boston Tea Party.
Plymouth Junior Lawyers Division has raised a total of £4,267.00 for the Snowdrop Appeal, presenting the cheque to Greg and Jen Phillips on the same week that the Appeal received the news that their efforts since 2009 have paid off. Sue Williams, Director of Midwifery and Associate Director of Nursing at Derriford Hospital, has confirmed that Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust have now agreed that the development of the full bereavement suite will go ahead! The news came much earlier than the couple could have anticipated, in memory of their daughter, Jasmine.
Greg and Jen Phillips have said “The Plymouth Junior Lawyers Division had some crazy, wild and wacky events and put so much hard work and effort into raising money for our appeal. We cannot thank them enough for all their efforts and all of us at Snowdrop want to say a big thank you for everyone’s efforts”.
November marks the start of the new committee year, and a new charity will be selected for the year ahead at their Christmas Social on 6 December 2016 at Two Parts Strong. They aim to continue with the success of this year by hosting a range of events, to both raise money for their chosen charity, and bring the business networking community together. Chloe Hamblin of Curtis Whiteford Crocker, Secretary for the committee year 2015-2016 and Chair for the new committee year, has said “The committee have enjoyed a very successful year raising money for the Snowdrop Appeal, and as Chair, I am looking forward to seeing what the members, new and old, will achieve in terms of fundraising and social networking events. Follow us, and watch this space!”
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