Speaking on the fundraiser, Rachel Beattie, from the CSR team at Ryobi, expressed her joy at the opportunity to be involved with both the Elmer Trail and the family fun day.  She said: “Ryobi sponsored one of the elephants at a cost of £7,000.  A couple of us within the CSR team then created a small subdivision team to try and fundraise more money on top of that for the hospice.  I organised this fun day because we wanted to reach out to the local community and help other businesses in the process.”

As well as the fun day and Big Elmer Trail Ryobi staff also organised a charity at Carrickfergus Golf Club recently where they raised £2,500 for the Hospice.  Ciarán Maxwell, who organised the golf day said: “The typical NI September downpour didn’t dampen the spirits on the Charity Golf day – a fantastic effort from all the players to brave the conditions and finish the round, and a massive thank you to all hole sponsors and players who helped raise £2,500 for Northern Ireland Hospice.”

All the proceeds raised will provide crucial funding towards the NI Children’s Hospice, enabling them to continue their services within the community helping young children in need.

The Hospice is currently self-funded, making fundraisers such as these even more critical as it ensures further care can be given.

Rachel said: “We know that the Hospice is completely self-funded, they don’t get any government funding.   It costs £700 for one day of palliative care for a child in their home. None of us know when we will need that. That’s why it’s so important.”

Marco Emig, Managing Director of Ryobi, was at the fundraising event, and was delighted by the outcome and support it received.  He said: “I’m amazed by the turnout of how many people actually came to support us here today.   Around a year ago we set up the corporate social responsibility team, and the idea for the family fun day and the charity golf day events came from that team.”

Marco also addressed how the community rallied around the cause, with individuals from across Carrick and beyond attending and donating to the Children’s Hospice.  He said: “We’ve been in Carrickfergus for more than 30 years, and it’s time to start giving back to the community.  It’s really good to see Ryobi employees and their families here, as well as a lot of people here who are not our employees, which I think is really important.”

Gwyneth Evans, HR Manager, also expressed her delight at the sense of community seen on the day.   She said: “We have been supporting the Northern Ireland Hospice throughout the year with various fundraising activities.  “We wanted to take this opportunity to bring all of our employees and their families together so that they could spend time in a social setting.  And also, we wanted to outreach to the local community, so we made the family fun day open to the public too.”

Ryobi did a fantastic job at raising vital funds for the Northern Ireland Children’s Hospice and hopefully this will be an annual staple within Carrick for years to come.

Gareth, 19, works in the Die Cast Engineering department at Ryobi, and is completing his apprenticeship in Engineering at Northern Regional College, Ballymena.
Employers and training organisations from all over Northern Ireland were asked to nominate apprentices who they felt had shown commitment, occupational progress and enthusiasm in their chosen apprenticeship.
The awards ceremony, organised by the Department for Employment and Learning, was held in Hillsborough Castle and was hosted by presenter Claire McCollum.

Congratulating the winners, Minister for Employment and Learning Dr Stehen Farry said: “The array of talent on display today is testament to the high level of skills and talent that exists in Northern Ireland.  I congratulate Gareth, the Apprentice of the Year, and all the other apprentices here today on their achievements and wish them continued success in their chosen careers.  Gareth is an excellent example of how an apprentice can form an integral part of a company.”

Barry Ferris, Die Cast Engineering Manager at Ryobi Aluminium Castings, said:“Gareth is rated highly amongst management and staff and is meticulous about his work.  He has shown great ability, and his first project led to significant savings for the company.  Since this he has become involved in higher level products, coming up with innovative ideas and solutions.  His strengths reside in his ability to identify faults and if necessary redesign products, reducing downtime whilst maintaining a close eye on quality.  Without doubt Gareth’s work is way beyond the remit of an apprentice and is certainly on par with experienced engineers.  His future with Ryobi is very promising and his contribution greatly appreciated.”

To find out more about the Department for Employment and Learning Apprentice of the Year and ApprenticeshipsNI programme visit