We have been supporting our chosen charity since 2004.
Almost 30 million people worldwide are living with HIV/AIDS and in Africa, the world's poorest continent, AIDS has so far killed more than 17 million people. This is more than the casualties from all the wars of the last century put together.
The epidemic claimed the lives of an estimated 2.4 million Africans in the past and every day another 10,000 are infected with HIV/Aids. In South Africa alone an estimated 5 million people, one in five of the adult population, are infected and the average life expectancy in some African countries has dropped to below 30 years old.
Thembalitsha provides love and care to children who have been diagnosed as terminally ill with Aids in South Africa. The name Thembalitsha is derived from two Xhosa words, ithemba (hope) and tsha (new). Find out more at http://www.thembalitsha.org.uk.
We became aware of the work of Thembalitsha when friends gave up their jobs and home in the scenic Devon countryside to move with their two children to South Africa three years ago. It was a huge commitment on their part, so we decided to make a commitment to them and have been supporting them ever since.
Other charitable support
We also regularly hold events to raise money for other charitiable causes, most of which involve eating something, such as our Curry for Kashmir and Mrs Burren's regular cake for charity.
We also encourage our staff to let us know if there's anything they're involved with that they think is worthy of support. Activities in the past have included a football tournament and even skydiving – and all without serious injury!