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“In the last ten years, I’ve seen our employees raise over £2 million through our charitable partnerships – something I’m extremely proud of” explains Mike Seabrook, Company Secretary, Thales UK.

“In recent years, we’ve partnered with the British Heart Foundation, helping millions of people living with heart and circulatory diseases in the UK. With the three-year partnership ending this year, we would like to join the CEO of the British Heart Foundation to celebrate what Thales’ employees have achieved and say a huge, heartfelt thanks for all their efforts”.

Thales colleagues’ passion and commitment to our partnership over the last three years has been outstanding. Their incredible fundraising efforts have provided CPR kits for secondary schools across the country, giving children the opportunity to learn essential lifesaving skills that will stay with them for the rest of their lives. Thanks to everyone at Thales, we have also been able to continue to fund lifesaving research. On behalf of the 7.6 million people living with heart and circulatory diseases in the UK, I want to share my heartfelt thanks to all Thales colleagues for dedicating their time to help us beat heartbreak forever.
^{Dr Charmaine Griffiths, Chief Executive, British Heart Foundation}

In three years, employees have raised over £280k to support crucial heart research with our own charity ‘Champions’ training around 25,000 people in life-saving skills.

We’ve had some laughs along the way too. Despite the pandemic we found some creative ways to encourage fundraising activities. A nod to the 50th anniversary of the moon landings, our ‘Lost in Pace’ challenge encouraged employees to team up and walk the 15 million steps it would take to walk round the moon – virtually of course – using pedometers. 

For the second instalment, we returned to earth – in other words, we upped the challenge to 60 million steps. Pre-pandemic in 2019, 18 employees set off in Lycra and British Heart Foundation colours for a 240km Crawley to Paris bike ride, since then there have been many other activities including a couple of skydives. During lockdown we’ve enjoyed breaking out the exercise equipment with various rowing and cycling challenges too.

“Looking back, Thales’ partnership with the British Heart Foundation has been a resounding success. Our employees should be extremely proud of what they have achieved” remarks Mike.

So, with the partnership drawing to an end, what’s next for Thales’ charitable giving? “We are currently in the process of selecting a charity to work with next year. Aside from the British Heart Foundation, previous charity partners have included Marie Curie Cancer Care, Alzheimer’s Society, the National Deaf Children’s Society, Prostate Cancer UK and MacMillan Cancer Support.

With a long list whittled down to just two potential charity partners, we’ll now be putting the final decision to an employee vote. Watch this space…” Mike says with a smile.