Billian's Christmas present appeal is a huge success

Over the past month, the Billian team has been collecting gift donations on behalf of Secret Santa CIC – a community interest company (Reg #10858839) that creates ‘Santa sacks’ filled with presents for some of the most disadvantaged children in Blackburn & Darwen.

Ian Jones, managing director at Billian, announced: “We’re so pleased that the appeal has been a success, thanks to generous donations from family, friends and local businesses.”

In an effort to raise funds for the collection, a member of the Billian team sold homemade sweet treats to other businesses in their office building, raising a grand total of £115.15 for the cause.

Noor Tomlinson, marketing executive at Billian, added: “We were given lots of selection boxes and pre-loved toys and teddies, so we decided put the money towards some brand-new toys and board games. We left B&M with more than we could carry!

"We just wanted to say a huge thank you to our office neighbours at the BTMC. Everyone chipped in with the bake sale, and Eriks, Holroyd Accounting, Bluerockit, and Uni-tel even dropped by with gift donations which really made our day.

"We also wanted to say thank you to Lancashire Business View who agreed to share our appeal in their Wednesday Weekly email campaign. The lovely team at Stevens Traceability saw it and surprised us with boxes of toys and a giant unicorn teddy which we were reluctant to give away.”

Phil and Karen of Secret Santa will spend the lead up to Christmas creating age and gender-specific bundles which are handed over to social services to distribute amongst families in need.

Phil Boulding, managing director at Secret Santa, added: "We knew that Billian IT were coming but my goodness me! When they arrived with carrier bag after carrier bag, box after box and then presented a £250 envelope containing 25 x £10 Blackburn Mall vouchers we were just blown away!

"They blocked our aisles for hours as we beavered to clear them. What a wonderful, heart-warming donation. Thank you so much to everyone that helped.”