Sheffield Forgemasters delivers more than £21,000 to local charity

A monumental effort by Sheffield Forgemasters and its employees has delivered more than £21,000 to a Sheffield charity.

Since 2021, the company and its employees have been chasing a target of £20,000 for the nearby Support Dogs charity to train a highly specialised dog, able to assist and protect vulnerable people with epilepsy, autism and disabilities.

The fundraising drive has included a site visit by antiques expert, Drew Pritchard and his Salvage Hunters team, but also includes an annual six-a-side football tournament organised by employees, and various raffles and other fundraising initiatives.

Gareth Barker, Chief Operating Officer at Sheffield Forgemasters, said: “I cannot give enough praise to our employees, who have fully embraced the challenge to raise money for Support Dogs, driving many of the fundraising initiatives themselves.

“Our original pledge was to raise £20,000 to train a dog, and without a real plan for how we would achieve that, we have gone over the target and are still seeing donations coming in via our JustGiving page.

“Despite the challenges that many people face during difficult economic times, the generosity of our donors has been humbling and on behalf of the business, I offer our heartfelt thanks.”

The company’s annual football tournament has now become a regular fixture and could help to benefit other charities in the future.

Sheffield Forgemasters featured in Salvage Hunters TV programme, with the team purchasing old furniture and signs from the company with a value of £3,400, which was soon eclipsed by the annual employee football tournament, which raised much of the remainder.

Chris Daykin, Corporate Partnerships Manager at Support Dogs, said: “We are incredibly grateful for the support we’ve received from Gareth and all the team at Sheffield Forgemasters over the last four years. They’ve worked incredibly hard to achieve their target and many of the staff and the suppliers have shown tremendous generosity during this period.

“We’re delighted to be able to celebrate Sheffield Forgemaster’s support by naming one of our puppies-in-training in honour of them in 2026 and that dog will go on to provide life-changing support for somebody affected by autism, a physical disability or epilepsy.”

Photo caption: (left/right) Stars of the annual football competition, Conran Widdeson, Rob King, Sam Quincey-Brooke, Chris Beach, Shaun Rutkowski and Gareth Barker (white shirt) of Sheffield Forgemasters present a £21,000 cheque to Cordelia Van-Ristell and Joe Dickinson from the Support Dogs Charity.