Greene King announces £20mln milestone in Fundraising efforts for Macmillan Cancer Support

Greene King has today announced a significant £20m fundraising milestone achieved for its long-term charity partner Macmillan Cancer Support.

The funds, that have been raised collectively across more than 2,600 pubs, restaurants and hotels in towns, villages and city-centre high streets across England, Wales and Scotland, forms the significant charitable contribution.

Fundraising has come from team members around the UK taking on a host of extreme personal challenges such as scaling mountains, hiking and running marathons, as well as pub teams hosting local fundraising events, pub quizzes and Macmillan Coffee Mornings throughout the year too.

The smaller donations that happen daily across all of Greene King’s 1,600 managed pubs, from the £1 dropped into the collection tin on the bar to the 25p donations that are added via Pennies (the online collection tin) have also added to this record result. Earlier this year the pub company announced that it had raised over £2million from donations made via Pennies.

On the significant milestone of £20million fundraised for Macmillan Cancer Support, Nick Mackenzie, CEO at Greene King commented: “We are incredibly proud, as a company, to contribute towards such an important cause and we are so thankful to our teams and customers who have helped us achieve this £20million milestone.

“We often talk about the importance of the pub in our communities, and this research shows that the cornerstone of any community is a trusted safe space that can hold every human emotion experienced – somewhere to share the laughs, and the tears and everything in between.

“Pubs have always been at the heart of communities, and that has never been clearer than now, when our dedicated pub teams and our amazing customers have come together to support a cause that is close to the hearts of so many.”

Alongside the announcement, Greene King is encouraging people to open up about health and personal problems as part of its charity campaign across its pub communities. New research published today shows that more than a third of people have hailed the pub as a place to lighten the load and get personal problems off their minds.

The survey from Greene King found 36% of UK adults say their local is a good place to get things off their mind, with casual social settings the number one place to open up and start a conversation about personal issues (29%), overtaking common alternatives like via text (9%) and over the phone (8%).

The survey reinforces why opening up about health-related issues is key for most, with 8 in 10 people (80%) agreeing that talking is the first step to seeking help – yet despite this, only half of us (49%) say we’re good at sharing our problems.

The research also shows cancer (62%) is the nation’s number one most worried about health concern, followed by dementia/Alzheimer’s (39%) and heart issues (38%).

Meanwhile, 1 in 6 people (17%) say they would happily open up about a problem they’re facing to their local pub’s landlord, landlady or bartender.

Greene King joined forces with Azmina Rose, a Personalised Care Lead at Macmillan Cancer Support and TV presenter and NHS Practitioner Dr. Dawn Harper, to swap stethoscopes for pints as they become guest landladies for the day to discuss this new research.

Dr Dawn Harper explains why a socially safe space to open up with friends and family about real life issues is so important to health, saying: “Your average Brit is completely correct that talking about a problem is often the first step to seeking medical help.

Best known for her role as a GP in TV’s Embarrassing Bodies, Dr. Dawn continued: “The old adage, a problem shared is a problem halved, was borne out of a medical study that showed the immediacy of how sharing concerns brightened outlooks as a result – often leading to a plan to go and see a doctor or helped to unpack the weight of associated emotions.

“The fact that for many Brits their local pub can offer this kind of sharing environment makes it an important institute socially, facilitating informal talking therapies between friends and family or those you trust.”

Azmina Rose, Lead for Personalised Cancer Care at Macmillan Cancer Support, said: “Cancer can be scary and comes with significant uncertainty for what the future might hold. Worries, fears and concerns about the consequences of cancer and its treatment are natural, but that doesn’t mean they’re easy to cope with. Everyone’s needs are different and will vary at different points of their cancer experience, but we want to make sure people are supported to live their lives as fully as they can through providing emotional and practical support.

“The incredible amount of money raised by Greene King will help us at Macmillan to provide that support to so many people. £20m could fund almost 150 Macmillan nurses for a whole year and provide a vital £200 grant for 30,000 people with cancer, as well as supporting our entire team of specialist information nurses on the Macmillan Support Line phone service for a full year, helping them answer more than 60,000 calls and queries from people affected by cancer**.”

Current figures show there are currently around 3 million people in the UK living with cancer and with an ageing population, this is set to rise to 4 million by 2030 .

With many patients facing ongoing disruption to care and treatment, loss of income and everything else a diagnosis brings, this means the support they offer is now more important than ever.

This autumn, Greene King continue their fundraising efforts with the launch of Impact IPA, available in selected Greene King pubs from Monday, October 21. Brewed to celebrate the fundraising milestone, Impact IPA will be available to purchase for the next two weeks with 20p (plus VAT) from each pint sold being donated to Macmillan Cancer Support.