International Financial Data Services - Basildon

Simon Hudson-Lund, CEO commented:

“Once again, I felt a great sense of pride on Friday, seeing so many staff, many with members of their families, together with clients, all staffing the phones on what felt like one of the busiest nights we have ever had. From 6.45pm until midnight and took over 5211 calls - fantastic! We collected over £159,153 for Red Nose Day an incredible achievement!

During the day, IFDS staff raised over £3000 from fund raising events across IFDS House (Basildon), Adams House and Paragon House (Chelmsford). So many people across the company helped make the day and night a great success, and a joy to be part of!”

Kim Inglis, Group Executive said:

“Red Nose Day at IFDS is always a huge success! We have such a fantastic response from everyone willing to give up their time for such a worthy charity!

We sell raffle tickets, arrange quizzes, t-shirt competitions, sell cakes and this year we even had a wear your slippers to work day! The highlight of the day was our very own Smurf who topped the poll for dressing up!

We are never short of eager volunteers on the night. Everyone loves taking part! We had fantastic entertainment. Olly the magician; our very own Quiz Master, Dan Hobbs; and wonderful jazz singer, new entrant on the call centre Alice Dougan. They all ensured our volunteers were thoroughly entertained all evening!

All our volunteers on the night are split into coloured teams each with a team leader in their colour to support and train everyone as they arrive. They need to be easily recognised so they dress up with coloured tutus and angel wings which looks wonderful.