Tag: Community

Raffle To Raise Funds For We Love Lichfield

We are proud supporters of We Love Lichfield, a local community fund that raises money throughout the year and then gives away grants twice a year to good causes across Lichfield District.

Our CEO Simon Price is patron of We Love Lichfield and he is passionate about the organisation.

Until the end of March we are raising funds via a raffle. One lucky person is going to win £750 worth of goodies. We want as many people to buy a ticket, only a £1! Please share to as many people as you can and pop in to buy a ticket.

For more information visit www.welovelichfield.com

Arthur Price On The TV With David Dickinson Talking Titanic

Two family-owned Lichfield businesses have appeared on the same episode of one of Britain’s most-watched television programmes. The 19th series of Dickinson’s Real Deal is currently being broadcast on ITV1.

The episode which aired on Friday, January 19, featured auction scenes with Richard Winterton at The Lichfield Auction Centre, Fradley, and celebrity antiques expert David ‘The Duke’ Dickinson talking to Simon Price, CEO of cutlery manufacturer Arthur Price.

Simon visited the Fradley Park saleroom because of a personal connection with one of the lots featured on the programme – a Titanic souvenir signed by Millvena Dean, the last living survivor of the sinking and, at two months old, the youngest passenger onboard.

Founded in 1902, Arthur Price supplied cutlery for the White Line, Titanic’s owner. Arthur Price cutlery has been found in the wreck and been verified by deep-sea explorers.

Arthur Price produced a limited edition silver-plated spoons modelled from the original die on the pattern used on the Captain’s table.

Number 1 of 89, bearing Millvena Dean’s signature on the bowl of the spoon, and commemorating her 89th birthday in 2001, was brought to a Dealer Day at the National Motorcycle Museum in Solihull in May last year by Tom Reeves.

Tom’s framed spoon included a certificate with a personalised inscription – “To Tom and Gail, with every good wish from Millvena Dean, youngest survivor of the Titanic” – dated September 19, 2001.

Dealer Fay Rutter offered £80 but Tom opted for the experience of auction, with David Dickinson adding: “I think they’ve got something here that just titillates the public imagination. I think it’s desirable.”

By a quirk of fate, Tom worked for Simon’s grandfather Frederick Price at Parkfield Rolling Mills in Saltley, Birmingham, a manufacturing firm used to produce Arthur Price cutlery. When Richard Winterton found out about the connection, he invited Simon to meet Tom and watch the auction together.

Tom said on TV to David Dickinson, “I used to work for the company that supplied all the cutlery for the Titanic. The spoon is made from the genuine dies that made the cutlery originally in 1912.

He added: “I acquired replica newspaper articles over a period of time to put with it along with a copy of the posters that they had at the shipyard in Belfast before Titanic came to Southampton.”

Dealer Fay Rutter offered £80 but Tom opted for the experience of auction, with David Dickinson adding: “I think they’ve got something here that just titillates the public imagination. I think it’s desirable.”

Fast forward to the auction day in June 2023 and Simon was interviewed onscreen by ‘The Duke’ discussing the Titanic cutlery and a letter from an explorer who in a submersible visited the wreck at the bottom of Atlantic Ocean, and recognised the Arthur Price cutlery in the ship’s copper dishwasher tanks.

Going under the hammer with Richard Winterton, Tom’s lot sold well at auction and he took home £82 to put towards a holiday – definitely the Real Deal.

Simon said: “It was tremendous fun going along to the auction and meeting David, and it was a fantastic surprise to meet Tom, who worked for my grandfather.

“It was also a special moment being able to share the story of Arthur Price’s involvement with the Titanic on TV.”

David Dickinson also signed the We Love Lichfield celebrity shirt of which Simon is the patron. The Community Fund which raising and distributes grants across Lichfield District hopes to auction the t-shirt, which has over 40 signatures, to raise further funds in the future.

Simon said, “My thanks to David for taking the time to sign our We Love Lichfield charity shirt. He wanted to know more about the work the fund does and the people it helps. By signing the t-shirt, he adds to the amazing list of celebrities who have put their name to the fund, and in doing so helping others.”

Richard Winterton added: “I have known Simon for many years and when Tom came to the Dealer Day with his history linked to Arthur Price, it was a perfect connection and so I had to invite Simon along to meet him.

“Not only are our firms Lichfield companies each more than 100 years old, we are both committed supporters of We Love Lichfield and I also wish to say a big thank you to David Dickinson for his kind support.”

For more information on We Love Lichfield, visit www.welovelichfield.com.

For further information on Arthur Price Titanic replica cutlery visit: www.arthurprice.com/collections/titanic-luxury-cutlery

Series 19 episode six of Dickinson’s Real Deal, ‘Solihull 2’, can be viewed on demand at www.itv.com/watch/dickinsons-real-deal/33248/1a8665a1082.

A-Plan Supports We Love Lichfield

A-Plan Insurance is celebrating a new partnership with ‘We Love Lichfield’, a local community fund that provides small grants to a wide range of voluntary projects based in Lichfield District. A-Plan’s Lichfield branch in Bore Street have agreed to donate £25 every time someone takes out a car, van or home policy and mentions ‘We Love Lichfield’.

 

Laura Maritza (Branch Manager) said: “We are really proud to be supporting We Love Lichfield and the excellent work they do locally. The team and I are looking forward to getting involved with activities throughout 2020 and beyond.”

 

Laura continued: “We like to be where people can access us easily and where we have an opportunity to engage with local people, businesses and charities. This allows us to really become part of the community. Lichfield is a great location for A-Plan and on a personal level I feel proud to play a part in the area’s vibrant economy.  We are here to provide a personalised service, designed to help our clients find the protection they need.”

 

Simon Price, CEO of Arthur Price and Patron of We Love Lichfield, said: “Thank you A-Plan twice.  Firstly, for agreeing to donate £25 for each car, van or home policy bought.  Secondly, to have a national company supporting a small but growing fund like ours, shows that our work is recognised as making a real difference.  It gives us all a boost to raise even more money to help the local community.”

 

We Love Lichfield provides small grants twice a year to a wide range of projects based in Lichfield District. Companies and individuals can donate, or fund raise and all money is invested through a permanent endowment fund by registered charity The Community Foundation For Staffordshire in line with charity commission guidelines. The interest and dividends earned is then distributed by the Fund as small grants across the district twice a year. The beauty of this model is that it will provide a source of on-going funding for many years to come. The aim is by 2023 to have created enough capital to give away £50K every year for ever. More information: www.welovelichfield.com

A-Plan has over 90 branches nationwide and it’s Bore Street Lichfield branch offers local residents, and businesses a more personalised way of arranging home, motor, travel or business insurance as an alternative to online insurance sites. A-Plan does all the hard work to find the right cover to suit clients’ individual circumstances.  Insurance cover can be arranged by phone, or by popping into the branch. Refreshingly, A-Plan does not have call centres or call queuing systems.

 

Pictured: The team from A-Plan Lichfield with Simon Price (far left) and Julian Fisher (far right) of We Love Lichfield

Feeling The Love In Lichfield At Christmas

Arthur Price CEO and patron of We Love Lichfield hosted a special event donating thousands of pounds in grants at its special Christmas presentation. The charity, which supports voluntary groups making a difference in our communities, invited recipients, civic leaders and guests to the event in Lichfield’s George Hotel on Friday 14 December.

 

Just over £13,000 was given away to the following groups; Live Music Now, King George V Scouts and Guides Beaudesert, Shenstone Community Library Local History Group, Kendall and Wall Charitable Trust, Youth Sailing at Chasewater, Lichfield Swimming Club, Whittington Wednesday Club, Clifton Campville Village Hall, 1st Burntwood Scouts, Friends2Friends, Cogs Prepares For Life, The Guild of St Mary’s, Lichfield Greenhill Bower, Girlguiding Lichfield Division, Gartmore Riding for the Disabled, Shenstone Cares Elderly Support Group, Erasmus Darwin House and Spark Burntwood.

 

The donation to Spark, which will be used to fund an after-school club, was extra special as it became the 200th organisation to receive We Love Lichfield funding.  To mark the occasion there was a special guest to make the presentation – celebrity Debbie McGee, who is starring in Sleeping Beauty at the Wolverhampton Grand Theatre

 

“I am honoured and humbled to be here with you all,” said Debbie. “It is so important that we support people doing special things that we often don’t get to hear about.”

 

Two groups which have received We Love Lichfield grants explained how the money has helped them. Doug Morrison, of Stonnall Youth and Community Centre Association, said its grant was being used to refurbish the floor of the centre and Anna Dennison and Kevin Pudney, of Friends2Friends, a social group for people with learning difficulties, spoke of how the money was used to take service users on a trip to the seaside.

 

Patron Simon Price paid tribute to the organisations and individuals that have supported We Love Lichfield this year. He thanked The George Hotel for its generous hospitality and We Love Lichfield patron Julian Fisher for organising the presentation, fellow patron John Heeler for riding from Lichfield London to raise money for the cause and patron Carrie Jahn for jumping out of a plane in aid of the charity.

 

City travel agent RB Collection gave a £500 donation to We Love Lichfield and a cheque for £4,000 was also received, the proceeds of the Lords Taverners Dinner at Lichfield Cricket Club in the summer.

 

Pupils from Lichfield Cathedral School became We Love Lichfield’s youngest fund-raisers – they raised more than £1,000 this year with two “big breakfast” fundraisers and a talent show supported by The Wolverhampton Grand Theatre.

 

The aim of We Love Lichfield is to establish a permanent fund for the city which supports good causes every year. For more details and to make a donation to the fund please visit welovelichfield.com