When businesses collaborate, great things happen

Thousands raised for charity through Business vs Agency bowls competition, written by Gavin Willis, of Search Seven.

Thousands raised for charity through Business vs Agency bowls competition, writes by Gavin Willis, of Search Seven.

Agency leaders vs 18 business leaders saw a true ‘head-to-head’ at the Search Seven Bowls Battle.

Weather was hot and the competition was even hotter… but it wasn’t about who would lift the trophy

It was about bringing together our business community to build relationships in a fun setting.

It was about joining forces, to be a force for good.

And have a real positive impact, and boy did that happen.

With thanks to the generosity towards the raffle, and the amazing sponsors, £4,000 will be donated towards amazing charities.

Some of the funds will also go towards the Portslade Bowls Club, who were just brilliant hosts, Thanks, mum!

Massive thanks to the main sponsors:

Webtrends Optimize – Matt Smith and Ben Charlesworth

Rubix VT – Nick Poyner and Ian Trevett 

And to our rink sponsors:

me&you – Matt Eamer

Project Management on Demand – Nadine Schofield

Nostos Hove – Kyriakos Baxevanis

Cognitive Law Limited – Lucy Tarrant

Social Firefly – James Armstrong

And to our charity print partner MCR Media Solutions Ltd – Max Robinson

Special thanks to the simply brilliant Yordan Dimitrov for his tireless efforts on the day and in the build-up.

A truly fantastic day – so proud of what we stand for as a business.

A business shouldn’t just be good, but they should do good – and that day was a real sense of a community doing just that.

Oh and who won, did you say?. Get in there, the Agency Team !

SBT’s Jackie Irving  caught up with the event’s main sponsors to ask them about their plans for future charity events and why it’s so important to their businesses.

Search 7

Our belief is that businesses should not just be good, but they should do good.

We love organising events like the Search Seven bowls battle, so business leaders can rub shoulders,have fun and genuinely make a positive impact on their community. By doing this, we form stronger and meaningful relationships, which go beyond just financial performance of our business, but based on what we stand for as people and what our business values truly are.

Working closely with the likes of Webtrends Optimize and Rubix VT, as well as the rink sponsors and other businesses that get involved in our events, helps bring like-minded people and organisations together, that genuinely care and want to be part of something where they can make a difference.

The bowls battle was our 25th Charity event, seeing our fundraising total now climb to £130,000, supporting 53 charities. We are now looking forward to our Back 2 School charity event in October, our big fundraiser of the year, where we are taking over Shelter Hall in Brighton, turning it into the Search Seven Academy, and we cannot wait!

Join us on a walk down memory lane as we indulge in a fun-filled evening of nostalgia and throwbacks all in the name of raising money for a range of fantastic causes.

There’ll, of course, be drinks on ice (Capri-Sun anyone?) as you arrive, ‘lunch time’ will be covered by our wonderful caterers (7 in total) and there’ll be the usual Search Seven fun and frolics in the form of P.E., our School Fete and much more!

Finally, the night will end with an iconic ‘school disco’, obviously.

Webtrends Optimize

At Webtrends Optimize we are really passionate about supporting (and being actively involved with) charities and local community initiatives as much as we possibly can.

We recently renewed our sponsorship of the Sussex Cricket Foundation who aim to actively change lives through cricket across the county, and we also regularly try and raise funds and awareness for the charities our team nominated for this year – namely Crohn’s & Colitis UK and Cancer Research UK (for which 13 of us are taking part in Tough Mudder in September).

In addition to this, we love collaborating with our partners and clients to support the causes that are close to their hearts too, such as the team at Search Seven. We sponsored their Charity Ball at The Grand in Brighton last year, as well as the last two editions of their Bowls Battle!

Our CEO Matt Smith is taking part in the Cornwall to Brighton bike ride, cycling over 300 miles across four days in September, for The Starr Trust, an independent, family-run charity who aim to remove roadblocks for young people to help them succeed and thrive in whatever they put their minds to.

We also try to do our bit to support good causes from a business perspective too, offering a 25% discount on our products/services to any non-profit charitable organisation.

Rubix VT

At Rubix VT we believe in giving back to the community we serve. Our team is actively involved in charity work and we support several worthy causes, helping initiatives make a real difference and change lives for the better.

2024 is a very exciting year for us and the charities we support!

In February we sponsored and ran our first Brighton Half Marathon. Our Rubix Runners team ran the charity relay race for the first time and over £1 million funds were raised towards many important causes, including The Sussex Beacon and our chosen charity of 2024, The Starr Trust. We are sponsoring the Brighton Half Marathon in 2025 and 2026 as well.

In April we partnered with Together Co, who combat loneliness in our community. We are providing them our telecoms services for free, and four of our team members are volunteering as telephone befrienders, making weekly phone calls to someone feeling lonely and in need of connection. 

June was another month of sports for a cause. We sponsored and participated in the Speedee Boarding Charity Tournament at Hove Lagoon and in the Search Seven Bowls Battle at Portslade Bowls Club, and raised funds for several worthy initiatives. 

From July to September we are supporting the Chestnut Tree House and their children’s hospice charity by sponsoring The Big Hoot, a public art trail in Chichester and Arundel showcasing 30 owl sculptures painted by various local artists, schools, and groups.

Also in September, our MD Nick Poyner will be cycling over 300 miles as part of the Cornwall to Brighton bike ride to support The Starr Trust.