Hayes Garden World staff wearing Christmas jumpers for Christmas Jumper Day
Angela Slater
16 December 2016
Daughter of a farmer and market gardener so have always had a connection with the outdoors, whether it was keeping animals or producing fruit, vegetables and cut flowers. Along with my work at Hayes Garden World I also have a smallholding, mainly breeding rare breed pigs. I gained an HND and BSc in Conservation and Environmental Land Management, as a result I am an ardent environmentalist and have a keen interest in environmentally friendly gardening. In my time at Hayes I worked for several years in the Outdoor Plant and Houseplant areas

Hayes Garden World Christmas Jumper Day 2017

Wearing a festive jumper to work could save the life of a child

Shop floor staff (pictured above)

The staff here at Hayes Garden World are in a fortunate position to be able to raise funds for Save the Children by wearing Christmas jumpers and giving a donation. The struggles we face in our lives are nothing compared to the horrors the world’s poorest children have to endure on a daily basis, most of it caused by war and poverty. You can make a difference for even a small donation; the cost of a pizza or a pint, could provide a vaccination or a clean water solution.

Save the Children is an international organisation based in the UK; in 2016 they helped 22.1 million children have a better life, so they really can make a difference on a huge scale, but it all depends upon you. They also try to challenge world leaders to promise to give children hope for the future. Currently they are operating in Yemen, Syria and The Horn of Africa. They also assist children who are fleeing across the sea, often in unseaworthy crafts.

They try and raise children out of poverty through the provision of education, both abroad and here in the UK. Millions of children have no access to education either through poverty, or because they live in a remote location or simply because they had the misfortune to be born a woman in a male dominated society.

schoolchildren in Africa

The health programmes instigated by Save the Children have contributed to a global reduction in child mortality; it has fallen by half since 1990. They provide vaccines, medical teams and medical supplies and also train local health workers. They have teams on standby ready to respond at a moment’s notice to emergency situations.

Poverty is another area where they make a difference as there is often no way out; and sometimes all it takes is a small helping hand. Poverty leads to malnutrition, no healthcare and no education which in turn leads to people having to take whatever route they can just to survive from one day to the next. This often leads to slavery, child labour, violence and child marriage and even death. Save the Children can raise people up out of this situation by providing a small grant for the family to establish a micro-business.

Four Seasons Restaurant staff

Rural communities are also helped by being trained to grow crops and raise livestock in a sustainable manner, as adverse climactic factors can soon push a rural community into starvation. A simple irrigation or water saving system can make the difference between starvation and a flourishing community.

5.9 million children die each year and many of these could so easily be prevented by people like yourselves simply wearing a silly jumper to work.

For more information on the work of Save the Children click here.