Center Parcs Woburn Forest donates hot drinks supplies to Keech Hospice

Center Parcs, which has the popular Woburn Forest resort near Milton Keynes and Bedford, has teamed up with wholesale supplier Thomas Ridley to distribute 525,000 packs of tea and coffee to local causes across the UK.

In light of the coronavirus pandemic, all beverage packs have been removed from Center Parcs' lodges to ensure high levels of hygiene and cleanliness.

With more than 500,000 packs already on order, a number of these have been donated to children's hospices in the UK for the families and staff who use their services.

Center Parcs Woburn Forest donated 2,000 packs of tea and coffee to Keech Hospice Care in Luton, with a further 8,000 packs of tea and coffee being donated to local causes.

As part of Center Parcs' partnership with Together for Short Lives, each UK village is linked with a local children's hospice.

These hospices are supported with a percentage of the total amount of funds raised by the business, as well as with volunteering and awareness raising activity.

Thomas Ridley, who have supplied Center Parcs for more than 30 years and were recognised as 'Supplier of the Year 2018' at the annual Center Parcs' Supplier Awards, have worked alongside Center Parcs to deliver the beverage packs to the hospices.

Steve Lyons, sales director at Thomas Ridley, said: "We are proud to help Center Parcs distribute the beverage packs to charities close to the villages around the UK.

"This donation makes the world of difference to these worthy causes and Thomas Ridley are pleased to assist in making it run smoothly for everyone."

Martyn Smith, head of procurement at Center Parcs, said: "We are so pleased that we were able to work with Thomas Ridley to distribute the beverage packs to places that would really benefit from them.

"They're a long-standing partner of ours and they've helped to make this happen smoothly.

"Removing the packs from lodges was vital to keeping our guests and colleagues safe, so we're thrilled that, instead of being wasted, they'll be going to worthy causes across the UK."